Japanese business leaders are far less confident in the economy than they were three months ago, their wariness growing on everything from exports and earnings to personal spending, a poll by a business lobby showed on Tuesday. Only 49.6 percent of the respondents thought the economy was either expanding or gradually growing in the quarterly survey by the Japan Association of Corporate Executives (Keizai Doyukai) for December, down from 88.4 percent three months earlier.
The deterioration was much steeper than a modest weakening in companies' confidence shown in the Bank of Japan's broader "tankan" survey released earlier this month.
"The results show a heightened sense of economic slowdown among corporate executives," said Kakutaro Kitashiro, chairman of the association and also chairman of IBM Japan Ltd a series of economic statistics in recent weeks has confirmed that growth in Japan's economy has slowed from the rapid pace of the end of last year.
Slowing demand for Japanese goods in major export markets such as China, along with high oil prices and a rising yen have turned companies more cautious about the outlook. However, the slight drop in sentiment shown in the BOJ's tankan has eased concern that the slowdown is acute, and has helped stock prices remain firm.
The head of the Japan Bankers' Association, Yoshifumi Nishikawa, also expressed concern about the apparent economic slowdown on Tuesday, though he added that he believed the lull would be temporary.
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