Japan output slumps

By Hideyuki Sano and Yuko Yoshikawa

TOKYO (Reuters) - Export-reliant Asian economies showed more signs of weakness on Friday, with Japan's industrial output diving at a record pace and South Korea warning it faces an "unprecedented crisis" as global demand wilts.

Even the once unstoppable Chinese economy is feeling the strain, with companies recording a sharp slowdown in profit growth in the first 11 months of the year.

On top of Japan's steep fall in industrial output in November, core consumer inflation fell faster than forecast last month, putting the shrinking economy on course for a spell of deflation next year.

The grim outlook could push the Bank of Japan to implement unorthodox monetary easing measures as it has little room left to cut interest rates after reducing them to 0.10 percent last week.

But Japan's Economics Minister Kaoru Yosano said he doubted that any so-called quantitative easing by the Bank of Japan would directly lead to an increase in loans to companies to get the economy moving again.

Facing the worst international economic environment in more than eight decades, Yosano said his government would act flexibly on possible additional spending measures if conditions deteriorated further.

"We cannot rule out the possibility that Japan and other parts of the world may face even worse economic conditions," Yosano told Reuters in an interview.

Fears about possible deflation in Japan next year weighed on the yen, which fell in thin trade versus both the euro and the dollar.