Quarterly Survey of Overseas Subsidiaries

Equipment Investments

• Capital investment by domestic parent companies totaled 2 trillion and 433.3 billion yen.
  Direct foreign investment totaled 572.1 billion yen, down by 2.3% from the same period of the previous year, decreasing in six business categories, such as transport machinery industry and chemical industry.
  Capital investment by overseas subsidiaries totaled 425.4 billion yen (3 billion U.S. dollars), largely decreasing by 38.9% from the same period of the previous year. In terms of regions, capital investment decreased in all the regions, especially in ASEAN 4, NIES 3, and OTHER REGIONS, where the figures fell by more than 50%. In light of business categories, capital investment decreased in eleven industries, including electrical machinery industry.
• DI was -53.7 regarding the outlook for capital investment by domestic parent companies in October 1998-March 1999, meaning that the outlook is significantly negative. In terms of business categories, the DI was negative for all industrial classifications (except food and tobacco industry which is not included in the survey on domestic parent companies).
• In light of comparison of DI with the previous period (comparison with April-June period) regarding direct foreign investment, the DI dropped by 2.5 points from -8.7 to -11.2, which means that the percentage of companies with a negative outlook increased in eight business categories, such as wood and pulp industry and precision machinery industry.
  As for capital investment by overseas subsidiaries, the DI was down by 9.9 points from 15.1 to 5.2, with the percentage of overseas subsidiaries with a positive outlook decreasing in eleven industries including food and tobacco industry. The percentage has also decreased in all regions around the globe.