Sunday June 28, 07:55 AM
Optimism grows among Japanese executives
TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's business leaders have become more optimistic about economic recovery over the past three months, a quarterly newspaper poll has said.
But they also believe that full recovery is not likely until some time in 2010, the Nikkei (news) business daily said, as recent official data began showing signs of gradual economic improvement.
In a survey this month roughly half of the presidents and chairmen of 137 major companies said they thought that the domestic economy had improved or showed signs of recovery when compared with six months ago.
In the previous survey, taken in March, only 0.7 percent of poll participants said so, the business daily said.
The survey was published ahead of the Bank of Japan's release Wednesday of its key Tankan survey of business confidence, which is expected to show a sharp improvement in sentiment from a record low the previous quarter.
In the Nikkei survey, 63.5 percent of business leaders said the domestic economy's immediate trend was holding steady while 27 percent said it was worsening.
The data showed a significant improvement from March, when 95.6 percent of respondents said the economy was worsening.
Meanwhile, 67 percent of those polled said they expected the economy to return to health some time in 2010 -- roughly the same percentage as in March.
The government has already declared that the worst of the recession is over, but acknowledged that domestic demand remains extremely weak and recovery was slow and gradual.
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