Tohoku companies upbeat on local economy, for now
For the first time in 20 years, more companies in the quake-hit Tohoku region reported a “strong” local economy than those that said conditions were “weak,” according to the Sendai Branch of the Bank of Japan.
The positive economic evaluation was due largely to a buoyant construction sector in the six prefectures of the region driven by rebuilding projects after the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake, according to the branch’s December Short-Term Economic Survey of Enterprises released Dec. 15.
The latest diffusion index of business confidence for all sectors and all company sizes in the Tohoku region, calculated by deducting the proportion of companies reporting a “weak” economy from the proportion that said “strong,” was plus 3, up 7 points from the previous survey in September.