BOJ lowers economic views on 3 of 9 regions

April 8, 2019

Tokyo--The Bank of Japan downgraded Monday its economic views on the Tohoku, Hokuriku and Kyushu-Okinawa regions, following overseas economic slowdowns including in China.

It is the first time that the BOJ has lowered its economic views on more than two regions in its quarterly Regional Economic Report since such views were revised down on eight regions in January 2013 due to the yen's appreciation.

In the latest report, the BOJ kept unchanged its views on five other regions from the previous report released in January, while upgrading that on Hokkaido on the back of recovery from the powerful earthquake in September.

The central bank adopted the new report at a quarterly meeting of its regional branch managers.

Yasuhiro Yamada, head of the BOJ Osaka branch, told a press conference that exports and production have been sluggish recently, but that many companies expect recovery in the second half this year or in the second half of the current fiscal year to March.

Production of electronic parts and chipmaking equipment for smartphones was substantially affected by a slowdown in the Chinese economy, according to the report.

An official of the BOJ's Research and Statistics Department said that all nine regions saw negative effects of overseas economic slowdowns.

The BOJ downgraded its views on production for all regions except Tokai and Chugoku.

According to the report, a manufacturing equipment maker voiced plans to continue capital spending due to structural labor shortages, but another said that it had postponed the construction of a new plant amid U.S.-China trade friction. Jiji Press