Japan Finance Ministry Raises Its Regional Economic Assessment
Japan’s Finance Ministry raised its assessment of the regional economy for a second quarter as a rebound in overseas demand spurred gains in production.
“Some areas of the economy, such as production, are showing signs of picking up, even though the economy is in a severe state,” the ministry’s local-office chiefs said today in a report for the three months ended Sept. 30 in Tokyo.
More than $2 trillion in stimulus spending around the world has rekindled global demand, helping Japan emerge from its worst recession since World War II. Reports in the past month showed Japan’s industrial production rose for a sixth month in August, large manufacturers became less pessimistic last quarter, and exports fell at the slowest pace in 10 months in September.
The ministry upgraded its assessment of seven of the 11 regions covered in the report. It left its evaluation of four regions unchanged from last quarter.
The Bank of Japan said on Oct. 19 the economy is improving in the nine areas it tracks for its economic assessment, also raising its evaluation.
Gross domestic product probably expanded at an annual 2.8 percent rate in the three months ended September, according to the median estimate of 18 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The economy expanded at a 2.3 percent rate in the second quarter, the first expansion in more than a year.
Even amid signs of an economic recovery, all regions left their assessment of employment conditions unchanged, saying they remain severe or are worsening. Japan’s unemployment rate stood at 5.5 percent in August, staying close to July’s record high of 5.7 percent.
Filed under: economics by Pascal