— See Separate Table For Details of Individual Forecasts
TOKYO (MNI) – Japanese real average household spending in October
is expected to have declined 1.6% from a year earlier, posting an eighth
straight year-on-year drop after -1.9% in September and -4.1% in August,
according to the median forecast of analysts surveyed by Market News
International.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications will release
the October data at 0830 JST on Tuesday, Nov. 29 (2330 GMT Monday).
Akira Maekawa, senior economist at Global Futures and Forex (GFT),
said, “The sluggish improvement in consumer sentiment resulting from
slow wage gains has been a drag on personal consumption.”
Japan’s consumer confidence was flat in October from the previous
month as the global economic slowdown and the yen’s rise to record highs
clouded prospects for income growth, the latest Cabinet Office data
showed.
The Consumer Confidence Survey index, which stood at 38.6 in
October, has shown only a gradual improvement and has not recovered to
the level seen before the March 11 earthquake disaster. The index
already began to slip in February to 41.2, then fell to 38.6 in March
and plunged to a recent low of 33.1 in April.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, household spending is forecast by
economists polled by MNI to have fallen 0.3% on the month in October,
posting the first drop in two months, following +0.9% in September and
-0.1% in August.
skodama@marketnews.com
** Market News International Tokyo Newsroom: 81-3-5403-4838 **
[TOPICS: M$J$$$,M$A$$$,MAJDS$]
