Japan’s economy expanding moderately: BOJ Kuroda

July 8, 2019

Tokyo--Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said Monday that the Japanese economy is on a moderate expanding trend although exports and production have been adversely affected by a slowdown in overseas economies.

The domestic economy will likely continue to grow moderately as a trend, he also said.

Kuroda made the remarks in an opening address at a quarterly meeting of the BOJ's regional branch managers.

At the meeting, the branch heads are believed to be discussing the current states and forecasts for the regional economies amid worsening economic sentiment among manufacturers reflecting escalating U.S.-China trade tensions and decelerating growth of the Chinese economy.

Agenda items also include the impacts of the deteriorating manufacturer sentiment on regional economies.

According to the BOJ's "tankan" quarterly survey for June released on July 1, the headline diffusion index for large Japanese manufacturers' current business conditions fell to plus 7 from plus 12 three months before, down for the second straight quarter.

At the branch manager meeting, the BOJ is set to adopt a regional economic report for release on Monday afternoon.

In the previous report released in April, the BOJ lowered its economic views on three regions, including Tohoku, northeastern Japan, due to the slowdown of overseas economies, while revising up the assessments for the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido. Jiji Press