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TOKYO: Japan’s economy is worsening because of a
once-in-a-century financial crisis, which has hit exports and
industrial production, Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa said
Monday.
“The international financial
and capital markets have fallen into a crisis that is said to come
only once in 100 years, pushing the economy into recession,” he
said in a speech at the start of the new parliamentary session.
“The Japanese economy has
experienced falling exports and production. Consumption has also
turned stagnant, and the economy is worsening,” he said.
Japan’s economy shrank for a
second straight quarter in the three months to September, officially
entering recession, and the situation has worsened since then with
exports and production plunging in November.
Some of Japan’s best known
manufacturers, including Toyota Motor Corp., Sony Corp. and Canon
Inc., have lowered production and cut jobs to adjust to the fall in
demand for their exports.
Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso
is introducing a 4.79 trillion yen ($52 billion) supplementary
budget for the year to March 2009 and a record-high annual budget
for the following fiscal year to boost the economy.
“We are confident that we
submitted the best plan possible and that the legislation is the
best remedy to boost the economy,” Aso told lawmakers from his
Liberal Democratic Party.
--AFP
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