日本经济动荡

Major Japanese firms are experiencing growing pressure from the global economic slowdown, along with waning consumer demand, and the impact of deteriorating ties with China. Japanese electronics firm, Sharp, is warning that it might not survive, after nearly doubling its full-year net loss forecast to 5.6 billion US dollars.

On Wednesday, Panasonic said it anticipates losses of 9.6 billion U.S. dollars for the current business year. It would mark the company’s fourth year of net losses in five years.

On Thursday, Toyota said sales of its new vehicles in China dropped 44 percent in October, from a year earlier. Latest figures show the total sales of new vehicles plunged 5.7 percent year on year. Japanese think-tanks are predicting a fall in the country’s GDP growth in the third quarter.