Japanese factories whose shipments to Asia and beyond were disrupted by a March earthquake disaster should resume normal operations in about three months, the Asian Development Bank head said Tuesday. Many of the factories in Japan's north-east, although affected by the massive earthquake, were inland and not struck by the devastating tsunami which accompanied it, ADB president Haruhiko Kuroda said.
"I do think that the supply chain disruption could be overcome relatively quickly," Kuroda told a news conference opening the ADB's annual meeting in Vietnam, adding most companies should recover within two or three months. "Already a number of factories have been reconstructed and restored," said Kuroda, whose Manila-based institution aims to reduce regional poverty.
Japan's strongest-ever recorded quake and resulting tsunami left 26,000 people dead or missing along the Pacific coast and triggered the world's worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl 25 years ago. While the short-term economic impact on Japan and the region is "not insignificant", Kuroda said reconstruction investment in the second half of the year would boost growth.
The Japanese government has said it expected production to increase in April and May but analysts have warned Japan's output would continue to be compromised. Last week the Bank of Japan cut its growth forecast for this fiscal year to 0.6 percent from 1.6 percent projected before the disaster.