The central bank said survey respondents assume that the dollar will average 116.97 yen in the year to March 2002, compared with a forecast of 114.05 in the June survey. The fund-raising conditions index, which measures the number of companies that feel it is easy to raise funds less those which feel it is difficult to do so, was at 10 for large firms in the September survey, compared with 12 in June. The index is forecast to decline to 4 in the December Tankan. For mid-sized firms, the index stood at minus 7 in the September survey, after minus 3 in June, while the index for small-sized firms came in at minus 16, from minus 13 in the June report. The index for mid-sized firms is forecast to worsen to minus 14 in December, and for small-sized firms to minus 26. The survey also found that financial institutions plan to boost combined capital spending for the year to March 2002 by 8.3 pct, compared with a 6.0 pct increase forecast in the June report.