Japan firms start boosting capex at home

Tokyo

PRESSURED by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to share some of their record profits, and by increasingly obsolescent equipment, Japan's companies are starting to boost their investment spending.

Policymakers have unleashed a public campaign to encourage the rebound, a new focus for the Abe administration after it saw some evidence of results from telling companies to increase wages. Whether the revival in capital spending keeps going will help determine the strength of Japan's recovery in the remainder of the year.