STEVE CHIOTAKIS: The economy is going to get worse in earthquake and tsunami-ravaged Japan before it gets better. That’s what big businesses expect over the coming months, according to the latest survey from the Bank of Japan.
From Tokyo, the BBC’s Rachel Harvey reports now the central bank wanted a before and after picture.
RACHEL HARVEY: The Bank of Japan re-released its report, because it wanted to get a clearer picture of the effect last month’s disaster is having on business sentiment. The difference is stark.
Before the quake, Japanese manufacturers had been broadly optimistic. Afterwards, the mood turned negative.
Economists — like Martin Schultz of the Fujitsu Research Institute — warn things could get worse. The report doesn’t take into account the full impact of the devastation and the continuing crisis at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
MARTIN SCHULTZ: This is about the time that companies need to restart their entire supply chains, get their business going, get exports going and consumers are even more depressed than we been seing before hand.
And the hit to sentiment extends beyond Japan’s borders. The U.S. Business and Industry Council warned last week that the effect of the Japanese crisis is likely to hurt American companies harder than originally thought.
In Tokyo, I’m the BBC’s Rachel Harvey for Marketplace.
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