Japan

The number of corporate bankruptcies in Japan in November hit a 56-year low for the month, thanks to the government’s continued financing support amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a private survey showed on Wednesday, the Japan Times reported. The figure dropped 10.3% from a year before to 510, down for the sixth straight month, according to the survey by Tokyo Shoko Research Ltd. Total liabilities left by failed companies fell 7.8% to ¥94,101 million. The survey covered business failures involving liabilities of ¥10 million or more.

The Bank of Japan is likely to narrow the scope of its Covid aid, but keep it in place for longer in an attempt to focus the measures on businesses that still need help, says a former top official, Bloomberg News reported. “A partial extension is possible,” said Eiji Maeda, who led the central bank’s pandemic crisis response before stepping down from his post as executive director in May last year. “Funding is becoming an issue that’s focused on some businesses and some sectors.

The specter of freezing weather in Japan and surging energy prices are raising risks the nation’s power retailers could follow their U.K. and Singaporean peers into bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported. Japan’s government and utilities, stung by last year’s record rally in spot electricity prices, are now preparing for what could be the tightest power supply in a decade. Liquefied natural gas inventories have been boosted to their highest seasonal level in five years, while some regional utility companies are curbing power output.

Japan's retail sales rose for the first time in three months in October, though less than expected, and the underlying private consumption trend pointed to persistent strains on a fragile economic recovery despite an easing of COVID-19 curbs, Reuters reported. Following a larger-than-expected contraction in July-September, analysts expect the world's third-largest economy to rebound this quarter thanks to an upturn in household spending, while supply-side concerns still loom for export-reliant businesses.

Japan’s government agreed on Friday to spend $490 billion on stimulus measures, a move by its prime minister to boost an economy battered by coronavirus restrictions and by a supply chain crunch that has affected the country’s largest manufacturers, the New York Times reported. Japan announced a partial easing of border restrictions this month and has lifted virtually all restrictions on its economy amid a falling virus caseload. And its rate of fully vaccinated people — 76 percent of the population, according to a New York Times tracker — is one of the highest among rich nations.

Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda expects consumer inflation to accelerate to around 1% in the first half of next year as the economy recovers to pre-coronavirus levels, voicing hope for a consumption-driven recovery, Reuters reported. But with inflation still short of its 2% target, the BOJ will maintain its "powerful" monetary easing and stand ready to ramp up stimulus, even as other central banks head for an exit from crisis-mode policies, Kuroda said on Monday.

Japan is considering an economic stimulus package worth more than 30 trillion yen ($265 billion) aimed at easing the pain from the COVID-19 pandemic, a plan that would require issuing new debt, Kyodo news reported, according to Reuters. Part of the spending will come from funds carried over from last year's budget, Kyodo reported late on Sunday. A government panel tasked with drawing up a blueprint for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's so-called new style of capitalism is expected to issue proposals on Monday that will lay the backbone of the planned stimulus package.

Japan said it would allow short-term business travelers and foreign laborers to enter the country, responding to calls from companies that said they feared falling behind the West, the Wall Street Journal reported. The decision followed a sharp fall in new infections in Japan, which is reporting only a few hundred new Covid-19 cases a day. More than 70% of the population is fully vaccinated. The loosening up puts Japan closer to the rules in the U.S.

Japanese policymakers on Tuesday reaffirmed the Bank of Japan's (BOJ) commitment to its 2% inflation target in a meeting held between the central bank chief and the country's economy and finance ministers, Reuters reported. The Japanese government and the central bank also agreed to keep in close contact and cooperation, in line with commitments made in a 2013 joint statement, which also laid out the country's inflation target for the first time.

Japan Airlines on Tuesday forecast a net loss of 146 billion yen ($1.28 billion) for the fiscal year ending March 2022, as it struggles to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, Nikkei Asia reported. JAL had refrained making a forecast for the current fiscal year until now, amid lingering uncertainties related to COVID-19. The company is now expected to have operating losses for a second consecutive fiscal year. The airline forecasts 766 billion yen in consolidated sales for the current fiscal year, up 59% from the previous year.