It is only now, almost six months after the Tohoku earthquake, that the scale of the damage to Japan Inc can be properly assessed. The big companies have made reasonably robust recoveries – even those with exposure to facilities washed away by the tsunami. It is the smallest businesses that are hurting. On Friday, the ministry of finance published its regular tally of corporations’ financial statements, covering the period from April to June. While those with capital of at least Y1bn (US$13m) saw ordinary profits drop by almost 4 per cent, year-on-year, those with capital between Y10m and Y100m suffered a 40 per cent fall.
直到日本東北地區地震發生將近6個月後的今天，我們才得以較爲準確地評估日本的受損程度。日本大企業實現了較爲強勁的恢復，就連那些有生產設施被海嘯沖走的大企業也是如此。痛苦的是小企業。上週五，日本財務省發佈了它編制的日本企業財務狀況定期報告，介紹了今年4月至6月的情況：資本規模在10億日元（合1300萬美元）及以上的企業，經常利潤（ordinary profit，營業利潤加利息和營業外收益）同比下降將近4%；而資本規模在1000萬至1億日元的企業，經常利潤同比大幅下降40%。