Japan economic indicators

he money supply strongly affects the rates of Japanese currency, the yen. In case the supply grows slowly, the Bank of Japan has to decrease the interest rates affecting the yen negatively. The deflation which means falling prices has a negative affection to the yen.

Tankan Index

This index, based on the surveys held among Japanese companies four times a year and showing the business confidence is one of the key indicators of the Japanese economy.

The Tankan values higher than 0 usually show the positive economy trend and are considered as normal though the higher values gives good support for the yen and are good for the entire economy of Japan.

About Japan's economic structure.

The economy of Japan is partly similar to that of the developed European countries. Bank financing is traditionally more reliable from the point of view of Japanese companies than the issuance of equity and bond. It is normal for the employees of big companies to develop careers in one company during all their lives. The Japanese companies are divided into two groups: the first includes multinational corporations, huge and powerful, whether the second one contains small enterprises often owned by families. Since 1960s the economy of Japan has been based on manufacturing industry. The Japanese manufacturing is still dominated by car and electronic production that affect international markets without any difficulties.

Japan leads in production of machine tools as well and export them mostly to the USA and South Korea. Japan is also one of the key players of the steel and iron markets. High level of investments is an important characteristic of Japan's economy in public as well as in private sectors. A gross fixed investment amount calculated for the period from 1999 to 2003 made up 24-27% of the GDP adjusted to current prices which is much higher than US or any european developed country had during the same period.

Economy of Japan.

The density of population is high in Japan, about 243 people per square kilometer. This is caused by combination of rather small territory and a considerable population. According to World Bank research, the number of people living in the urban areas is 65% and the length of the life is the highest in the world aggregaing 82 years according to 1997-2003 data. 11.8% of the Japan's population is reported to live below poverty line which corresponds 50% of median household income. The literacy of adult popularion is 99.9%. Speaking about human development index Japan has the 9th place out of 177. Gross National income per capita is $34510 (2003 data) makes Japan the second largest market in the world. Moreover, Japan is a member of OECD. The figures of GDP annual growth was 2.4% in 2004.