BOJ Keeps Economic Views Unchanged for All 9 Regions

Tokyo, Jan. 8 (Jiji Press)–The Bank of Japan in a quarterly report released Thursday kept its economic views unchanged from October for all nine regions in the country. The January regional economic report was adopted at a BOJ branch manager meeting held at the central bank’s headquarters in Tokyo the same day. It is the first time since July that assessments have been left unchanged for all regions. There had been anxiety about the impact on consumption from the Chinese government’s call for the country’s citizens to refrain from visiting Japan following a remark by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in November regarding a possible contingency over Taiwan. The impact has so far been limited, the latest report showed. Still, concern about a future expansion in the negative impact was raised mainly by the accommodation industry. According to the report, the economy has been “recovering moderately” in five regions, “on a moderate recovery trend” in one region, “picking up” in one region and “picking up moderately” in two regions. The BOJ raised its views on corporate capital spending and production for the Hokuriku central region on the back of robust artificial intelligence-related demand. Meanwhile, the assessment on housing investment was lowered for Hokuriku and the Kyushu-Okinawa region in southern Japan, reflecting drops in housing starts. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]