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Kyodo economic news summary -6-+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) TOKYO, March 31_(Kyodo) _ ---------- World Bank foresees 1st postwar shrinkage of global economy in 2009 WASHINGTON - The world economy is likely to contract 1.7 percent in 2009 from the previous year for the first minus growth in the postwar era, reflecting serious slowdowns in Japan and other industrialized countries, the World Bank predicted Tuesday. The bank sharply lowered its previous outlook in December, which forecast a 0.9 percent expansion of the global economy in 2009, in the face of rapidly deteriorating economic and financial situations worldwide. ---------- 3 life insurance units of AIG boost capital totaling 81.9 bil. yen TOKYO - Three domestic life insurance units under the arm of struggling U.S. insurance giant American International Group Inc. said Tuesday they have boosted their capital by 81.9 billion yen to deal with appraisal losses of securities. ALICO Japan said it has received 29.4 billion yen in fresh capital from ALICO in the United States, bringing the total amount of capital increase to the life insurer to 219.3 billion yen in the business year through Tuesday. ---------- Honda devises technology to operate robot with human thought TOKYO - Honda Motor Co. said Tuesday it has developed what it calls the world's first Brain Machine Interface, or BMI, technology that controls a robot by human thought without any physical movement. Developed jointly with the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International and Shimadzu Corp., the technology will be further developed for application to human-friendly products in the future, such as robots for housekeeping chores, Honda said. ---------- New ANA chief hints at more route closures, flight cuts in FY 2009 TOKYO - All Nippon Airways Co. will implement route closures and flight cuts in fiscal 2009 in addition to those already conducted on 11 routes in fiscal 2008 if demand for air travel continues to decline, the airline's new president has suggested. Such adjustments "depends on demand, although I do not think we will make a very drastic move," Shinichiro Ito, who is set to take the helm of Japan's second-largest airline on Wednesday, said in a recent interview with Kyodo News. ---------- DIC to cut deposit insurance premiums in April TOKYO - Deposit Insurance Corp. of Japan said Tuesday that it will reduce the insurance premium on checking account deposits at financial institutions in Japan to 0.107 percent from the current 0.108 percent, a cut for two years in a row, effective Wednesday. The semigovernmental body that insures bank deposits said that the premiums on ordinary and time deposits will remain unchanged at 0.081 percent. ---------- Toyota to cut dividends for FY 2008 for 1st time since FY 1994 NAGOYA - Toyota Motor Corp. plans to cut its year-end dividend for fiscal 2008 due to deteriorating earnings, the first reduction since fiscal 1994, which covered nine months as the firmed switched its fiscal year-end to March 31 from June 30, company sources said Tuesday. Toyota had left the dividend undecided when it projected in February a group net loss of 350 billion yen for the year through Tuesday, a sharp reversal from its profit of 17.18 billion yen in the previous year. ---------- OECD projects Japan economy to shrink 6.6% in 2009 TOKYO - The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on Tuesday sharply cut its forecast for Japan's real economic growth rate in 2009 to minus 6.6 percent from the previous year, much bigger than for the U.S. and the eurozone economies. "The Japanese economy will continue to contract through 2009 as the fall in external demand more than offsets policy-induced support to domestic demand," the OECD said in its Interim Economic Outlook, prepared in time for the two-day financial summit in London, starting from Wednesday. ---------- Aeon, NTT Docomo to form joint venture to collect consumer data TOKYO - Supermarket chain operator Aeon Co. and NTT Docomo Inc. said Tuesday they will form a joint venture to collect consumer data through the use of mobile websites and e-mails in order to more effectively stimulate slowing consumption. Aeon, the operator of Jusco and MaxValu supermarket stores, and Japan's top mobile phone carrier will aim to establish the new company with 800 million yen in capital by May 25. Aeon and its financial unit Aeon Credit Service Co. will hold a 71 percent stake and NTT Docomo the remaining 29 percent stake. Copyright ? 2009 Kyodo News International, Inc. |