Standard and Poor's reduced the forecast for Japan's rating

On Wednesday, the Standard and Poor's rating agency reduced the forecast of the Japan rating to the negative due to the effects of the country's catastrophe , while the sovereign rating of Japan was confirmed at the AA-, Reuters reports.

"The agency expects that the cost of the disaster on March 11 will increase the budget deficit in 2013 to the level above the previous estimates of 3.7% of GDP," the Standard and Poor's statement said.

"We reviewed the forecast for the long -term sovereign rating of Japan, indicating it as negative, to reflect the possibility of reducing the rating if the budget deficit exceeds this level (3.7% of GDP) in the absence of a more significant consolidation of the budget," the agency said.

The damage inflicted by the Japanese economy with an earthquake and tsunami may turn out to be more significant than was originally supposed, in mid -April, the Minister of Economy of the country Kaoru Yosano said.

According to analysts, Capital Economics Ltd., Japanese GDP will decrease by 1.5%this year. The previous forecast assumed that the country's GDP volume would not change in 2011.

"The economy of Japan will then begin to grow, since business activity will restore after the initial shock and an increase in the cost of reconstruction will contribute, but the restoration will be restrained by an increase in taxes and a reduction in the government of expenses for other needs, in addition to reconstruction," says Capital Economics, Julian Yessop.

The Japanese government in March predicted that the amount of damage caused by the country's economy by a natural disaster would be about 25 trillion yen (about $ 300 billion).

The amount of claims for compensation for the damage that will be presented to the Japanese company Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO)-the operator of the Fukushima-1 emergency nuclear power plant (Fukushima-Dayiti), can be up to 2 trillion yen ($ 23.6 billion), JPMorgan analysts predict.

For the company, this will result in significant write -offs, which will be assigned to the current financial year, ending on March 31, 2012. The one -time losses of TEPCO in the last financial year in connection with an accident at the nuclear power plant and other consequences of natural disasters can reach 554 billion yen ($ 6.5 billion).