Bank of Japan Set to Amend Tankan Quarterly Survey

TOKYO, Japan – The Bank of Japan (BOJ) is expected to revamp its “Tankan” quarterly survey to add more details on the country’s foreign exchange rates for next year, according to the statement from the country’s central bank.

The Tankan quarterly survey has been closely watched by market players, and according to the statement given by the Bank of Japan on Monday, it is scheduled to make amendments to the survey. The changes that the central bank of Japan will make will start from the next period it is due, which is scheduled for March 2020.

The sudden move from the central bank of the country hopes to provide the majority in the market more detailed information on the status of the market, most especially on how globalization has impacted the behavior of companies in the country.

Starting in March next year, the exchange charges component of the Tankan survey will widen its coverage. It will then include all industries, except for holding companies and other financial institutions and firms. Further, the Tankan survey for next year will include the rates for euro-yen pair, in addition to the rates for the dollar-yen pair.

The previous exchange rates survey that the central bank has done limited coverage as they only included large manufacturers and firms. Also, past surveys have only covered the exchange rates for the dollar-yen pair.

Aside from widening its areas of coverage for the survey, the BOJ will also publish a summary of the inflation expectations of the companies covered in the survey during the day they will put out the main survey.

Based on the recent statement from the central bank, there are more changes the market can expect from its Tankan survey next year. The list of changes for the survey that the market is going to look out for in the coming year will include a component on the overseas and international business activities of the firms they covered in the survey. The addition in the survey is scheduled for June 2020.

For that component of the survey, the central bank of Japan will conduct a survey based on the real results of sales and the actual forecast of sales. It will include the firm’s overseas sales, fixed investments and assets, current profits, and their overseas fixed investments that are available on a consolidated basis for major enterprises that have at least a USD 9.1 million (1 billion yen) capital valuation.

The additional components for the closely watched Tankan survey will be a focus of the market at its scheduled publication next year.