JAPAN CORE CPI GAINS 0.3PC IN APRIL

Rise offers policymakers hope of steady economic recovery

TOKYO

With the economy showing signs of life, many analysts now expect the Bank of Japan’s (BoJ) next move to be a reduction — rather than an expansion — of its monetary stimulus.

But BoJ officials have stressed that any reduction in stimulus would be some time away, pointing to the fact inflation remains distant from their target.

Meanwhile, Japan’s net external assets rose to their second-highest amount on record at the end of last year driven by rising mergers and acquisitions overseas by Japanese firms and portfolio investment, said the Finance Ministry yesterday.

The net value of assets held by the government, businesses and individuals stood at 349 trillion yen (RM13.32 trillion).

As at end-2015, Japan’s net external assets were at 339 trillion yen. Japan’s net external assets use the Shell and 76 brand names on products.

“Motiva has made significant strides over the last three years to reposition our business were about 1.7 times those held by China, with 210 trillion yen in net assets at the end of last year, followed by Germany, said the ministry.

Japan’s gross external assets rose five per cent to a record 998 trillion yen as gains in Japanese direct investment overseas and foreign bond investment more than offset drops in the appraised yen value of foreign currency-denominated assets.

Japan’s direct investment in the US reached a record 53 trillion yen at end of last year, up 2.7 trillion yen from a year ago, making it the most popular destination that accounts for a third of overall direct investment overseas.

Overall external debt grew 6.2 per cent to a record 649 trillion yen following increased foreign direct investment and acquisitions of Japanese bonds by foreign investors. Reuters

Retailers are struggling to raise prices because wages and household income aren’t increasing much. They thus try to trim costs by keeping wages low.

through focused improvement efforts and organic growth opportunities,” said Motiva president and chief executive officer Dan Romasko. Reuters

BLOOMBERG PIC Motiva Enterprises became a wholly owned subsidiary of Saudi Aramco on May 1 with the split of a 19-year partnership between Aramco and Royal Dutch Shell Plc.