Tuesday, April 5, 2011

The recession, a new threat to Japan

The economic impact of the earthquake, tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear accident may push Japan into recession in the coming months. That is what a panel of economists polled by the Nikkei business daily. For its part, the OECD estimates that growth should be amputated from 0.2 to 0.6 percentage points in the first quarter and 0.5 to 1.4 points in the second, but that rebuilding will rebound soon the third quarter.

At the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the Nikkei fell another 1.06%, to close Tuesday, April 5, core values and more, because of fear of earthquake risks and the nuclear accident in Fukushima, which the outcome is highly uncertain. The triple disaster has plunged investor confidence, exports and domestic consumption, summarizes on Tuesday, the newspaper, after studying the reports published by the eleven major private financial institutions.

The recovery is not expected until the third quarter of 2011. On average, the gross domestic product (GDP) in the third largest economy would shrink by 0.6% annualized in the first quarter of 2011 compared to the previous, then 2.6% over the next three months (April- June). The economist expects the worst even a drop of 7.1% in the second quarter.

"Most of them expect that consumption and exports continue to fall" between April and June, says Nikkei. The Japanese economy has already fallen by 1.3% annualized in the last quarter of 2010, according to official statistics. A recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of shrinking GDP.

Exports are expected to decline particularly in the automotive and electronics sectors whose production is most affected by the damage and disruption caused by the earthquake and tsunami of 11 March. Before the disaster, the economists predicted a slight rebound in growth in the first quarter, supported by exports.

Almost all experts now expect a recovery in the second half, with growth of 1.2% between July and September, and 5.6% last quarter, still on an annualized basis. The Government has estimated at 25,000 billion yen (208 billion) the cost of the disaster of 11 March. This amount does not include the impact, including agriculture, radioactive discharges from the plant in Fukushima stricken and plagued by a series of serious accidents.

Partly responsible for the drop in Japanese stock market, the action of Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), which operates the central hilly Fukushima Dai-Ichi, further loosening of 18.10%, Tuesday, April 5, tumbling to its lowest history in nearly sixty years. Moreover, the shortage of electricity greatly affects the economy.

New fears have emerged on Monday night, when the company announced it was beginning to voluntarily dismiss sea of slightly radioactive water. The group also decided Tuesday to postpone to a date not announced its financial results for the fiscal year from April 2010 to 31 March, because the consequences of the disaster.

The indebtedness of TEPCO gets heavier and costs increase while revenues sag. The hypothesis of nationalization of the electric companie's largest country is now one of the options on the table.

No comments:

Post a Comment