Together with the effects of the flooding in Thailand, the developments led to a gradual slowdown in the pace of increase in exports and production, and both exports and production have been more or less flat recently. Domestic demand, on the other hand, has been firm mainly due to reconstruction-related demand after the earthquake.
Private consumption has firmed up in part because of a recovery in demand, which had been temporarily subdued mainly reflecting the disaster, and because of a surge in new car sales due to the boost provided by government subsidies.