The survey of 1,255 local companies showed that Japanese firms plan to reduce their spending in the 2016 fiscal year, which started on April 1, by 1.6 per cent. Manufacturers have downgraded their spending plans by 2.6 per cent, Nikkei said. The overall level of spending on investment continues to rise, however, with planned combined capital spending until the end of October for this fiscal year sitting at 26.0351 trillion yen (229.6 billion dollars), up 8.8 per cent from the previous yearThat level of spending by Japanese firms would mark the seventh consecutive year of increases, should it continue. Investments abroad by the 787 Japanese companies for which comparable figures were available, will drop 3.4 per cent from their initial plans, the newsp aper said.

Source: The Nation Bangkok November 27, 2016 05:29 UTC