Saturday, April 17, 2010
Kyodo News
Japan's population has entered full-scale decline and shrank by a record 183,000 people over the past year, government data showed Friday.
As of Oct. 1, the population stood at an estimated 127,510,000 after shrinking by a record 0.14 percent, contracting for the second year in a row.
The year-on-year drop is the third to strike Japan since 1950, when comparable data first became available, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry said in the report. The other two shrinkages occurred in 2005, when it fell by 19,000, or 0.01 percent, and in 2008, when it contracted by 79,000, or 0.06 percent.
The ministry said its estimate was based on the results of the 2005 national census, annual data on births and deaths, and immigration data on entries and departures.
The female population stood at 65,380,000, down 61,000, or 0.09 percent, as deaths outnumbered births by 5,000, marking the first natural decline.
The male population stood at 62,130,000, down 121,000, or 0.20 percent, for the fifth consecutive annual decline as deaths exceeded births by 54,000.
Japan's population has entered a stage of full-scale decline as both men and women recorded natural decreases, ministry officials said.
The figures in the latest report included foreigners who stayed in Japan for 91 days or more and foreign students. The number of Japanese came to 125,820,000, revealing a decline of 127,000, or 0.10 percent.
The number of people who entered Japan totaled 3,114,000, up 250,000 from the previous year, while those who left the country stood at 3,237,000, up 329,000, meaning that social factors caused the total population to shrink by 124,000.
Of the 124,000, foreigners accounted for 47,000, marking the first decline in 15 years linked to social factors.
The officials attributed the decline in the foreign population to the recession triggered by the collapse of trading house Lehman Brothers in the fall of 2008.
Many foreigners lost their jobs and returned to their home countries as the financial crisis unfolded, the officials said.
The number of people aged 65 and older came to 29,005,000, up by 789,000 and accounting for 22.7 percent of the population.
In contrast, those aged 14 or younger fell by 165,000 to 17,011,000. The productive segment of the population, or those between the ages of 15 and 64, came to an estimated total of 81,493,000, shrinking by 806,000.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Redress OK'd for Minamata sufferers
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Kyodo News
The government on Friday adopted the redress measures for unrecognized Minamata disease sufferers at a Cabinet meeting, including a ¥2.1 million lump-sum payment and ¥12,900 to ¥17,700 in monthly medical allowances per person.
Under the scheme, the sufferers, expected to total more than 35,000, are relieved of medical expenses for treatment, including acupuncture and moxibustion therapy.
The government plans to start accepting applications as early as May 1, the anniversary of the official recognition of Minamata mercury-poisoning disease in 1956, when a memorial service for the victims is held each year in Minamata, Kumamoto Prefecture.
It will be the largest settlement since a rescue package was compiled in 1995 by the government for unrecognized sufferers of the nation's worst industrial pollution case.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama told reporters: "I feel pain when I think about the hardships of those who have suffered for a long time. As a state, I apologize for that."
The neurological illness caused by mercury-tainted water that was released into the sea by chemical maker Chisso Corp. has affected coastal residents in Kumamoto and Kagoshima prefectures. It was also confirmed in Niigata Prefecture in 1965, which was found to be caused by wastewater from a Showa Denko K.K. plant.
Redress applicants are required to submit medical certificates.
The move came after the Kumamoto District Court presented settlement terms, including the lump-sum payment and medical allowances, in a damages suit filed by unrecognized sufferers against the central and Kumamoto Prefectural governments, as well as Chisso.
Both sides have basically agreed to accept the court-brokered settlement plan.
Kyodo News
The government on Friday adopted the redress measures for unrecognized Minamata disease sufferers at a Cabinet meeting, including a ¥2.1 million lump-sum payment and ¥12,900 to ¥17,700 in monthly medical allowances per person.
Under the scheme, the sufferers, expected to total more than 35,000, are relieved of medical expenses for treatment, including acupuncture and moxibustion therapy.
The government plans to start accepting applications as early as May 1, the anniversary of the official recognition of Minamata mercury-poisoning disease in 1956, when a memorial service for the victims is held each year in Minamata, Kumamoto Prefecture.
It will be the largest settlement since a rescue package was compiled in 1995 by the government for unrecognized sufferers of the nation's worst industrial pollution case.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama told reporters: "I feel pain when I think about the hardships of those who have suffered for a long time. As a state, I apologize for that."
The neurological illness caused by mercury-tainted water that was released into the sea by chemical maker Chisso Corp. has affected coastal residents in Kumamoto and Kagoshima prefectures. It was also confirmed in Niigata Prefecture in 1965, which was found to be caused by wastewater from a Showa Denko K.K. plant.
Redress applicants are required to submit medical certificates.
The move came after the Kumamoto District Court presented settlement terms, including the lump-sum payment and medical allowances, in a damages suit filed by unrecognized sufferers against the central and Kumamoto Prefectural governments, as well as Chisso.
Both sides have basically agreed to accept the court-brokered settlement plan.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Analysts lift GDP estimate for 2009
The Phnom Penh Post
Thursday, 08 April 2010 15:01 Ellie Dye
THE World Bank has readjusted upwards estimates for Cambodia’s GDP performance in 2009 after unexpected signs of improvement emerged in the economy late last year.
Economists who drew up the biannual economic update on East Asia and the Pacific, released by the World Bank Wednesday, estimated that the Kingdom’s GDP contracted by 2 percent in 2009, 0.2 percent less than an estimate five months ago.
This contrasts with the government’s official assessment that GDP expanded 0.1 percent last year. The government has previously rejected estimates of recession in the Kingdom. Other international analysts including the International Monetary Fund and the Economist Intelligence Unit have estimated contractions in GDP last year.
The World Bank report released Wednesday forecast GDP growth of 4.4 percent in 2010, up from a 4.2 percent prediction in November. Garment exports – Cambodia’s main earner – are expected to expand 2 percent this year, after contracting 16 percent in 2009.
Huot Chea, the World Bank’s country economist, told the Post via email Wednesday the adjustments were made after aspects of the economy “improved unexpectedly in the last quarter of 2009”.
A doubling of agribusiness exports, a halt in the decline in tourists arriving by air, and signs that domestic credit and inflows of foreign domestic investment had “begun rebounding” were indicators of change, he said.
“The other crucial point was that garment exports were previously expected to drop by a 20 to 25 percent range, but ended up by declining less than 20 percent,” he wrote.
The World Bank report said Cambodia’s economy suffered “a serious setback” after the global economic downturn, but “signs emerged [in] late 2009 that the winds were shifting”.
The adjustments also reflect feelings among World Bank economists that the region has weathered the credit crunch.
“East Asia has recovered from the economic and financial crisis, largely thanks to China,” the report said, a viewpoint reiterated by leading economists Wednesday.
Speaking via video from Tokyo, the World Bank’s chief economist for East Asia and the Pacific, Vikram Nehru, congratulated ASEAN leaders in advance of the 16th annual summit, to begin in Hanoi today, on their handling of the economic crisis.
Nehru advised leaders to stay on top of regional development through better trade facilitation and managed migration and likened the economy to a bicycle.
“You have to continue reforming or else you fall off,” he said.
He also advised developing economies like Cambodia to look towards middle-term economic goals in the year ahead.
The report likens Cambodia’s situation to that of Vietnam a decade ago, when Vietnam chose to open its economy to foreign investment and began ambitious structural changes that boosted fixed investment to 32 percent of its GDP.
The World Bank estimates Cambodia’s foreign direct investment will grow to US$725 million in 2010, up from $515 million in 2009 and nearly rebounding to 2008 levels, when investments came in at $795 million.
The report’s principle author, Ivailo Izvorski, said through videolink Wednesday that developing nations should continue to make structural changes and increase capacity to make the most of prospective growth.
“Now developing countries have to get used to slower growth of their exports,” he said. “Before the economic crisis we were in a bubble.”
In its report, the World Bank also warned Cambodia of potential challenges in the year ahead.
Cambodia’s growth forecast could be put at risk by “the fragility of the global recovery, the uncertain capacity of the economy to diversify and the limited scope for a stronger recovery in credit”.
Huot Chea said after Wednesday’s conference that Cambodia could further protect itself from external shocks by diversifying its export markets, especially in garments, which are currently concentrated in the United States, which was hit especially hard by the economic crisis.
Cambodia managed to significantly raise exports to markets including Japan and Laos last year. However, trade rose from a small base in most cases.
Thursday, 08 April 2010 15:01 Ellie Dye
THE World Bank has readjusted upwards estimates for Cambodia’s GDP performance in 2009 after unexpected signs of improvement emerged in the economy late last year.
Economists who drew up the biannual economic update on East Asia and the Pacific, released by the World Bank Wednesday, estimated that the Kingdom’s GDP contracted by 2 percent in 2009, 0.2 percent less than an estimate five months ago.
This contrasts with the government’s official assessment that GDP expanded 0.1 percent last year. The government has previously rejected estimates of recession in the Kingdom. Other international analysts including the International Monetary Fund and the Economist Intelligence Unit have estimated contractions in GDP last year.
The World Bank report released Wednesday forecast GDP growth of 4.4 percent in 2010, up from a 4.2 percent prediction in November. Garment exports – Cambodia’s main earner – are expected to expand 2 percent this year, after contracting 16 percent in 2009.
Huot Chea, the World Bank’s country economist, told the Post via email Wednesday the adjustments were made after aspects of the economy “improved unexpectedly in the last quarter of 2009”.
A doubling of agribusiness exports, a halt in the decline in tourists arriving by air, and signs that domestic credit and inflows of foreign domestic investment had “begun rebounding” were indicators of change, he said.
“The other crucial point was that garment exports were previously expected to drop by a 20 to 25 percent range, but ended up by declining less than 20 percent,” he wrote.
The World Bank report said Cambodia’s economy suffered “a serious setback” after the global economic downturn, but “signs emerged [in] late 2009 that the winds were shifting”.
The adjustments also reflect feelings among World Bank economists that the region has weathered the credit crunch.
“East Asia has recovered from the economic and financial crisis, largely thanks to China,” the report said, a viewpoint reiterated by leading economists Wednesday.
Speaking via video from Tokyo, the World Bank’s chief economist for East Asia and the Pacific, Vikram Nehru, congratulated ASEAN leaders in advance of the 16th annual summit, to begin in Hanoi today, on their handling of the economic crisis.
Nehru advised leaders to stay on top of regional development through better trade facilitation and managed migration and likened the economy to a bicycle.
“You have to continue reforming or else you fall off,” he said.
He also advised developing economies like Cambodia to look towards middle-term economic goals in the year ahead.
The report likens Cambodia’s situation to that of Vietnam a decade ago, when Vietnam chose to open its economy to foreign investment and began ambitious structural changes that boosted fixed investment to 32 percent of its GDP.
The World Bank estimates Cambodia’s foreign direct investment will grow to US$725 million in 2010, up from $515 million in 2009 and nearly rebounding to 2008 levels, when investments came in at $795 million.
The report’s principle author, Ivailo Izvorski, said through videolink Wednesday that developing nations should continue to make structural changes and increase capacity to make the most of prospective growth.
“Now developing countries have to get used to slower growth of their exports,” he said. “Before the economic crisis we were in a bubble.”
In its report, the World Bank also warned Cambodia of potential challenges in the year ahead.
Cambodia’s growth forecast could be put at risk by “the fragility of the global recovery, the uncertain capacity of the economy to diversify and the limited scope for a stronger recovery in credit”.
Huot Chea said after Wednesday’s conference that Cambodia could further protect itself from external shocks by diversifying its export markets, especially in garments, which are currently concentrated in the United States, which was hit especially hard by the economic crisis.
Cambodia managed to significantly raise exports to markets including Japan and Laos last year. However, trade rose from a small base in most cases.
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