BOJ's Economic Views Kept Unchanged for All 9 Regions

Tokyo, April 6 (Jiji Press)--The Bank of Japan in a quarterly report released Monday kept its economic assessments unchanged from three months before for all nine regions of the country.

According to the report, adopted at the day's meeting of the central bank's branch managers at its headquarters in Tokyo, 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 April report highlighted concerns voiced by some industry officials over the impact of escalating tensions in the Middle East, including rising procurement costs due to higher crude oil prices, as well as potential downward pressure on regional economies.

Some business operators may take a cautious stance on raising wages, depending on future developments in the conflict between the U.S.-Israeli camp and Iran, it also said.

Meanwhile, the report said that personal consumption remains solid for eating out and tourism including accommodation thanks to wage increases.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]