Ordinary profits earned this year by Japanese firms were projected to fall by six-point-three percent from last year. 

Kyodo News on Wednesday reported the numbers citing data from the Japanese Ministry of Finance and the Cabinet Office. 

Kyodo attributed the declining corporate profits to falling overseas demand for Japanese products and a rise in costs including for facility construction. 

The Japanese business survey index in the October to December period stood at minus six-point-two, the lowest in three and a half years.