TOKYO: A key Japanese economic index fell in August and the government on Monday downgraded its view to “worsening,” indicating the export-reliant economy might face slipping into recession.
Concerns have risen as the US-China trade dispute and slowing external demand dent Japan’s economic recovery.
The index of coincident economic indicators, which consists of a range of data including factory output, employment and retail sales data, slipped a preliminary 0.4 point in August from the previous month, the Cabinet Office said on Monday.
The separate index for leading economic indicators, a gauge of the economy a few months ahead that’s compiled using data such as job offers and consumer sentiment, dropped 2.0 points from July, the Cabinet Office said.
The last time the government gave a “worsening” assessment was for April data.
The downgrade could add to speculation the government will hike spending, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday said he was ready to take “all possible steps” if risks to the economy intensified following a sales tax hike and rising global uncertainty.
Japan rolled out a twice-delayed increase in the sales tax to 10 percent from 8 percent on Oct. 1. The move is seen as critical for fixing the country’s tattered finances but could tip the economy, hurt by the US-China trade war and weak external demand, into recession.
For April-June, Japan reported growth of 0.3 percent from the previous quarter. The last time Japan was in a technical recession, defined as two consecutive quarters of contraction, was the second half of 2015.
In recent months, the government’s assessment on the coincident index was that the economy likely stopped falling.
The government will later examine the economy comprehensively with professors and economists on a panel and officially define the country’s economic cycle.
Japan’s growth has slowed as the US-China trade dispute hit the country’s exports, sending big manufacturers sentiment — as measured by the Bank of Japan’s tankan survey — to a six-year low in the July-September quarter.
Market expectations for more policy easing by the Bank of Japan have increased after the central bank signaled its readiness to expand stimulus as early as its Oct. 30-31 meeting.
Key Japan economic index falls, government changes view to ‘worsening’
Key Japan economic index falls, government changes view to ‘worsening’
- Concerns have risen as the US-China trade dispute and slowing external demand dent Japan’s economic recovery
- The last time the government gave a “worsening” assessment was for April data
Saudi minister at Davos urges collaboration on minerals
- The reason of the tension of geopolitics is actually the criticality of the minerals
LONDON: Countries need to collaborate on mining and resources to help avoid geopolitical tensions, Saudi Arabia’s minister of industry and mineral resources told the World Economic Forum on Tuesday.
“The reason of the tension of geopolitics is actually the criticality of the minerals, the concentration in different areas of the world,” Bandar Alkhorayef told a panel discussion on the geopolitics of materials.
“The rational thing to do is to collaborate, and that’s what we are doing,” he added. “We are creating a platform of collaboration in Saudi Arabia.”
The Kingdom last week hosted the Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh. Alkhorayef said the platform was launched by the government in 2022 as a contribution to the global community. “It’s very important to have a global movement, and that’s why we launched the Future Minerals Forum,” he said. “It is the most important platform of global mining leaders.”
The Kingdom has made mining one of the key pillars of its economy, rapidly expanding the sector under the Vision 2030 reform program with an eye on diversification. Saudi Arabia has an estimated $2.5 trillion in mineral wealth and the ramping up of extraction comes at a time of intense global competition for resources to drive technological development in areas like AI and renewables.
“We realized that unlocking the value that we have in our natural resources, of the different minerals that we have, will definitely help our economy to grow to diversify,” Alkhorayef said. The Kingdom has worked to reduce the timelines required to set up mines while also protecting local communities, he added. Obtaining mining permits in Saudi Arabia has been reduced to just 30 to 90 days compared to the many years required in other countries, Alkhorayef said.
“We learned very, very early that permitting is a bottleneck in the system,” he added. “We all know, and we have to be very, very frank about this, that mining doesn’t have a good reputation globally.
“We are trying to change this and cutting down the licensing process doesn’t only solve it. You need also to show the communities the impact of the mining on their lives.”
Saudi Arabia’s new mining investment laws have placed great emphasis on the development of society and local communities, along with protecting the environment and incorporating new technologies, Alkhorayef said. “We want to build the future mines; we don’t want to build old mines.”
