Private capital investment in all 10 regions of Japan will drop in fiscal 2002 from the previous year for the first time in four years, according to a survey released Monday by the governmental Development Bank of Japan.
According to the survey of 8,288 nonfinancial companies with capital of 100 million yen or more, capital spending will fall 3.8 percent in fiscal 2002, which begins in April, marking the second straight yearly decline.
Capital investment in Hokkaido will drop for the first time in three years, and that in Shikoku will show a double-digit fall as capacity-boosting investment by companies in the paper and pulp industries has subsided, the survey found.
Spending in the Tohoku and Kyushu regions will also show large declines as investments in the electric and machinery sectors are restrained, it found.
But capital investment in big cities in the Tokyo metropolitan, Tokai and Kansai areas will show a relatively small drop because urban redevelopment projects are under way, the survey found.