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Japan to Pump Money into Tsunami-Shattered Auto Industry

Facing an increased pressure to reestablish the blooming automotive industry, in June the Japanese authorities, backed by Development Bank of Japan, will kick off a support program aimed to help the automotive suppliers affected by the natural disaster of nearly three months ago get back on their feet.

According to AFP, the Japanese government and its own bank have agreed to help the industry through a $617 million dollar fund which will be made available next month. Hopes are that commercial banks will jump in and lend a hand as well.

"The East Japan Great Disaster seriously damaged supply chains of auto parts makers, and we have been discussing possible financial support for them," a Japanese official was quoted as saying by AFP. "Our negotiation is in the final stage. The size is likely to be as big as 50 billion yen."

An economy built from the ground up on exports has nearly been brought to its knees by mother nature on March 11, when a huge quake, followed by a devastating tsunami, submerged huge portions of Japan and entire business with it.

The scale of the disaster will affect the automotive industry for most of the year, with automakers like Honda and Toyota announcing that full production at sites all over the world will not be resumed sooner than a few months (as late as the end of the year in Toyota's case).

This is because an important number of the 800 major auto parts manufacturers have been affected by the quake and tsunami, either directly, or indirectly, through the disruption of supply lines.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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