BOJ Keeps Economic Views Unchanged for 8 of 9 Regions

Tokyo, Oct. 6 (Jiji Press)–The Bank of Japan in a quarterly report released Monday lowered its economic assessment for Hokkaido while keeping unchanged the views for the remaining eight of the country’s nine regions. The central bank noted that the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s steep tariffs has been limited in general although the levies led to a fall in capital goods orders, and delays and cutbacks in investments. The report, adopted at a meeting of the BOJ’s branch managers, held at the central bank’s headquarters in Tokyo, described the regional economies as “recovering moderately,” “picking up” or “picking up moderately.” The assessment for Hokkaido, northernmost Japan, was lowered from “picking up” to “picking up moderately,” because of sluggish personal consumption amid higher prices and weak accommodation demand. At a press conference after the meeting, Kazuhiro Masaki, head of the BOJ’s branch in Osaka, western Japan, said, “The impact (of the U.S. trade policy) on business sentiment has so far been limited, but uncertainty is expected to remain high.” Japanese companies remain cautious about the outlook although Japan and the United States have clinched a tariff agreement, according to Masaki. In the report, a surveyed company said that the U.S. tariffs have squeezed profits, prompting client firms to take a tougher stance in price negotiations. “Orders have somewhat declined since summer” as a surge in demand ahead of the introduction of Trump’s tariffs ran its course, an electric machinery maker in Sendai, the capital of the northeastern prefecture of Miyagi, said. Meanwhile, a transportation machinery maker in Nagoya, the capital of Aichi Prefecture, central Japan, said, “The impact (of the U.S. tariffs) on demand has been limited, and exports continue to increase as a trend.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]