Japan's economy slumping 'faster than expected'

Industrial production fell 1.3%--much worse than the foreseen 0.1%.

According to DBS, the economy is deteriorating faster than expected. Industrial production fell -1.3% MoM sa in August, worse than the METI forecast of 0.1% and the market consensus of -0.5%.

Here's more from DBS:

While the manufacturing PMI improved marginally by 0.3ppt to 48.0 in September, it remained below the neutral level of 50. And the METI’s latest survey forecasts a further and deeper decline in industrial production in September (-2.9%). By any measure, industrial production should have remained in contraction mode in September. Reflected in GDP growth, the 3Q growth (QoQ) would be at best 0%.

From the demand-side perspective, industrial output was dragged down by external demand to a larger extent than by domestic demand. Exports, in real terms, have fallen for four consecutive months.

On the other hand, retail sales rose a modest 1.5% MoM sa in August after shrinking for two months in June-July. The near term outlook for exports remains sluggish, in light of the continued weakness in the global economy and the recent escalation of China-Japan tensions.

Reaching the people who run Asia's businesses is harder than it used to be.

Inboxes are crowded. Attention is short. The executives you most want to reach — the founders, CFOs, and operators who actually move budgets — are the hardest to find through the usual channels. If you're building a company, a category, or a reputation, you already know this.

We've spent twenty years building the room they read. Singapore Business Review is where senior decision makers in Singapore and across Southeast Asia come for business coverage they can't get elsewhere — in print, online, and in person at the summits and roundtables we host across seven markets.

If you have something these readers should know about — a point of view worth publishing, a product worth their attention, an event worth their time — we'd like to hear what you're trying to do.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia