Over 50% of major companies in Japan think economy is slowing

According to an Asahi Shimbun survey, more than half of major companies believe that Japan's economy is not improving. Asahi Shimbun file photo More than half of the leading companies in Japan believe the economy has stalled or is slowly contracting because of rising prices and sluggish consumer spending, according to the Asahi Shimbun survey.

The survey was conducted between Nov. 14 and 25 on 100 major companies. In the spring and autumn, the Asahi conducts two such surveys a year.

Forty-six companies in the latest survey viewed the economy as flat, up from nine from the previous survey conducted from May 30 to June 10.

With seven businesses feeling that the economy is slowly shrinking, 53 companies gave pessimistic assessments of the economy, compared to 38 in the spring survey.

The number of companies that feel the economy is slowly expanding fell to 46 from 59 in the previous survey.

The economy was not assessed as on a steady growth path, although there were two such companies in the May-June survey.

Asked to provide two sources of concern for the economy, 59 companies cited rising prices of crude oil and raw materials in the November survey.

Consumer spending, as cited by 34 companies, was more than double the figure in the previous survey, and was the second most common concern.

Atsushi Katsuki, president of Asahi Group Holdings Ltd., said the prices of goods will likely increase in the coming months.

He said that many companies have yet to fully pass the surge in fuel and raw material prices on to consumers.

Kensuke Hosomi, President of Familymart Co., a chain of convenience stores, gave a dismal outlook on personal spending.

He said consumers will tighten their purse strings out of fear of a squeeze on their household budgets.

The survey found that 24 companies are concerned about the U.S. economy, a threefold increase from the previous survey.

Japan's economic recovery could stall if the US economy falters as a result of the Federal Reserve's significant interest-rate hikes to combat inflation.

46 companies in the Asahi survey said that the Japanese economy is on a recovery course because of the COVID 19 pandemic-related restrictions on movement and other activities.