Global General

Special

Newsmaker

Asia Pacific

America

Middle East

Europe

Africa

Bank of Japan report shows slight improvement in economy

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-10-19 21:59

TOKYO: All regions of Japan have started to show signs of slight economic improvement over the last three months, according to the Regional Economic Report released by the Bank of Japan on Monday.

"According to reports from each of the nine regions in Japan, signs of picking up had appeared throughout the economy, although regional differences remained," the document said.

The report showed that throughout Japan, production has picked up, with many regions citing increases in exports to countries such as China and South Korea as the reason for the turnaround.

There were few signs, however, that the increase in production had yet led to consumption growth or improvements in the employment and income situation.

Related readings:  United Korea economy may surpass Japan's  New Japan PM faces hurdles on economy, US ties  Japan's economy returns to growth in Q2  China may top Japan as world's second-largest economy Japan economy shrinks at fastest pace in 35 years

The report emphasized the fact that there are reasons to believe the recovery will take a long time and that the economy may again start to deteriorate.

"Business fixed investment declined substantially, mainly reflecting weak corporate profits. Private consumption continued to be weak amid the severe employment and income situation, despite the appearance of some policy effects. Housing investment also decreased," it said.

The nine regions of Japan assessed by the report are Hokkaido, Tohoku, Hokuriku, Kanto-Koshinetsu, Tokai, Kinki, Chugoku, Shikoku and Kyushu-Okinawa.

The report said that while the sales of some goods, such as hybrid cars and flat-panel televisions, had begun to pick up due to measures put in place by the government, other goods, such as apparel and accessories, remained weak.

Business fixed investment also remained weak, with all regions reporting no changes from the assessments released in July.

On employment and income, the report said that in some regions conditions were continuing to deteriorate, while in others conditions seemed to have bottomed out.

"Compared with the previous assessment of employment, many regions maintained their previous assessments, but Kinki reported that the employment situation had deteriorated. On the other hand, Tohoku and Tokai reported that the pace of deterioration had slowed, as the labor market conditions had begun to stop worsening. As for household income, almost all regions maintained their previous assessments with the exception of Kinki, which reported an acceleration in the pace of decline," the report said.

The Regional Economic Report is carried out every three months and shows how economic conditions vary between regions.

Japan has long had a problem with an economic imbalance between urban areas and the countryside, and the Democratic Party of Japan pledged in its election manifesto to revitalize Japan's regions outside of major economic centers such as Kanto and Kansai.