Confidence among major manufacturers dropped unexpectedly -- albeit slightly -- in the first quarter of the year due to high oil prices, marking the first decline in four quarters, according to the Bank of Japan's closely watched "tankan" survey released Monday.
However, despite a temporary slump in sectors dealing in raw materials such as fibers, paper and pulp, the survey indicates the nation is still following the mild growth track it has been on since February 2002. Big companies in all industries are planning to increase capital investment in fiscal 2006 by an average 2.7 percent from fiscal 2005 -- the biggest increase since fiscal 1990 at the start of a new fiscal year.
If the expansion continues through April, the economy will have grown 51 consecutive months -- a statistic the media is using to compare the deflation-plagued economy with the asset-inflated bubble economy of the late 1980s. If it continues through November, it will surpass the postwar record of 57 months set during the "Izanagi economy" that began in late 1965, the government says.