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Planned Revisions of the Tankan Survey

Review of survey items, including the introduction of a survey on Inflation Outlook of Firms

March 22, 2013
Research and Statistics Department
Bank of Japan

The Bank of Japan ("the Bank") conducts The Short-term Economic Survey of Enterprises in Japan (Tankan) with a view to gauging business conditions in Japan in its pursuit of sound monetary policy.  The Tankan survey covers a sample of approximately 11,000 private firms selected from the population of approximately 210,000 firms in Japan.  The Tankan survey is one of the important information sources for the Bank in assessing the Japanese economy, and is also highly appreciated by a wide variety of users.

The Bank will change the Tankan survey items in three respects: 1) the introduction of a survey on the inflation outlook of firms; 2) the removal of some questions requesting quantitative responses; and 3) a review of survey methods relating to the "conditions for commercial paper issuance" diffusion index (DI).

In formulating its plan for these changes, the Bank released a proposal in November 2012 and invited suggestions from the public (through mid-January 2013) as is usual when planning major revisions to the statistics it compiles.  The Bank received comments from 32 interested parties including business organizations, academic experts and economists. The planned revisions of the Tankan survey items laid out in this paper have reflected these comments (major comments and the Bank's responses are summarized on Page 9).  The Bank is deeply grateful to these parties for their valuable comments.

The Bank intends to implement these changes to the Tankan survey items around the first half of 2014.  A more detailed schedule will be announced in due course.  Looking ahead, the Bank will continue its efforts to improve the Tankan survey with a view to providing richer information on developments in the business sector in Japan.

Inquiries

Business Survey, Research and Statistics Department

E-mail : post.rsd5@boj.or.jp