Regarding the outlook, under the accommodative financial conditions, firms are expected to make investments in areas including efforts to address labor shortages, IT-related goods associated with digitalization, logistics facilities to meet the expansion in e-commerce, office buildings and commercial facilities as part of redevelopment projects, and efforts toward decarbonization. 2.
Almost half of that increase is due to higher energy prices. Naturally, cross-country inflation differences remain, and are relevant. However, these cross-country differences are themselves affected by higher oil prices, reflecting the fact that energy intensity and energy taxation vary between countries.