TOKYO, Jan 5: Almost half of Japan’s major firms believe the economy is showing signs of slowing down, amid concerns about global oil prices and the US economy, a survey released on Friday said.

Forty per cent of businesses cited slowdowns, up 17 percentage points from its previous survey in September, the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper said in the poll.

The survey was conducted by the daily in late December covering 214 major companies across the nation.

Thirteen per cent surveyed said Japan’s economic expansion was already over while 49 per cent predicted it would end by December this year.

Some 70 per cent said they are concerned about a surge in the price of oil and other raw materials, while 61 per cent regarded the prospects for the US economy as a negative factor for the Japanese economy, the survey said.

Crude oil hit 100 dollars a barrel for the second straight day on Thursday.

Surging oil prices are piling pressure on the US economy, already weakened by a horrific housing slump, adding to a raft of signals of looming recession in the world’s largest economy.

In a separate survey released by the Mainichi Shimbun on Friday, some 58 per cent of major Japanese companies said the nation’s economy is still expanding gradually, down from 83 per cent a year ago.

Eleven per cent said the economy will get worse over the next 12 months, up from six per cent in the previous survey, according to the latest poll, which was carried out in late December, covering 120 Japanese firms.

The Bank of Japan is considering slashing the nation’s economic growth forecast for the fiscal year to March to as low as 1.3 per cent from its current 1.8 per cent, a newspaper reported this week.

The government has already slashed its own economic growth forecast to 1.3 per cent for the fiscal year from its earlier projection of 2.1 per cent. —AFP