Major Japanese companies have predicted 1.3 percent real growth for the economy in fiscal 2001, topping 1 percent for the first time in four years, the government said Friday in releasing results of an annual survey.
The projection is better than the 0.9 percent forecast a year ago for fiscal 2000, but below the growth target of 1.7 percent set by the government in December.
The Cabinet Office's Economic and Social Research Institute conducted the survey in January, asking the 2,270 nonfinancial companies listed on the Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya stock exchanges about their predictions for the year. The response rate was 61.9 percent.