Japan Inc forced to tap banks; Asia stocks jump

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-12-08 15:53

While Japan escaped heavy exposure to the US subprime mortgage meltdown, its export-dependent economy has been battered by the global credit crisis, and companies have been forced to turn to the country's huge banks for funding they would ordinarily secure in the commercial paper and bond markets.

Visitors are sen at a Honda showroom in Tokyo, Japan, Friday, Dec. 5, 2008. Honda will pull out of Formula One unless a new buyer can be found within three months, The Associated Press has learned. The Japanese car manufacturer has the operating budget to keep the team running into early 2009, but escalating operational costs amid the worldwide financial crisis have the Brackley-based outfit in danger of shutting down if a new sponsor is not found quickly. [Agencies]

"There was a conspicuous rise in lending by major banks, which means that even large companies that are considered blue chips are taking on more bank loans in the face of tighter conditions for direct financing," said Junko Nishioka, chief economist at RBS Securities.

Revised GDP data on Tuesday is expected to show that the Japanese economy shrank 0.2 percent in July-September, double the previously reported reading and confirming recession, according to a Reuters poll.

Data on Monday showed that the country's current account surplus fell by a more-than-expected 56.5 percent in October.

Also in Tokyo, the Nikkan Kogyo newspaper reported that Toyota, the world's largest auto maker, was considering cutting capital expenditure for the business year starting in April by 30-40 percent in response to the sharp downturn in car sales.

Stimulus Spending

Australia's handout of cash to families and pensioners, part of a stimulus package unveiled in October, echoes a spate of plans by governments around the world aimed at bolstering spending to help economies recover.

"I've urged pensioners and families to spend this money responsibly, to use this money to make ends meet, to help out their kids and help out their grandkids," Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said on Monday.

"If the government doesn't empower consumers at a time like this, in the midst of global financial crisis, then in fact we will have even greater challenges ahead," he said.

On Sunday, India unveiled $4 billion of extra spending for its current fiscal year, a day after the country's central bank cut key interest rates by 1 percentage point.

US President-elect Barack Obama, meanwhile, unveiled plans over the weekend for the largest US infrastructure investment programme since the 1950s, which analysts said could top at least $500 billion.

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