Corporate Japan signals lack of positive economic prospects

Washington

THE Bank of Japan (BOJ) on Monday delivered a sobering view of short-term prospects for the corporate sector of the world's third-largest economy, suggesting that a strong yen and relatively poor demand prospects will restrict sales and profits at least until the end of this year.

The report came in the form of the BOJ's latest quarterly Tankan survey of corporate prospects showing sentiment among nearly 11,000 firms across a wide spectrum of manufacturing and non-manufacturing firms to have remained flat over the past three months and likely to remain so for now.