84% Of Japan Firms See Economic Growth In 2022

About 84 percent of major companies in Japan expect the country's economy to grow in 2022, driven by recovering personal consumption amid hopes that the coronavirus pandemic will subside, a Kyodo News survey showed.

Photo Insert: Softbank was one of the 13 firms surveyed who predicted that, while the economy will remain flat, it will not contract.

In the survey of 106 companies, including Toyota Motor Corp. and SoftBank Group Corp., 13 firms predicted the economy will be flat as people remain cautious about the pandemic. But none of the firms said it will contract. Of the surveyed companies, 84 expect growth to be moderate in the year ahead, while five see a more solid expansion.

With multiple answers allowed, 91 percent of them that expect growth cited a pickup in consumer spending, followed by 64 percent predicting the unusual situation caused by the pandemic will return to normal, 35 percent forecasting that capital investment will rise, and 19 percent looking forward to a recovery in the US economy.

The overall percentage of firms forecasting growth in the world's third-largest economy is up from the 74 percent in a similar Kyodo News poll a year earlier. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has vowed to minimize the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus while moving swiftly to get the economy back on track.

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