In BoJ’s Regional Economic Report, assessments for two regions, Hokkaido and Tohoku, were downgraded. Hokkaido’s economy has “remained in a severe situation” and has been “more or less flat. Tohoku’s economy has “picked up as a trend” but impact of resurgence of coronavirus appears to be “growing recently”. Assessments of Hokuriku, Kanto-Koshinetsu, Tokai, Kinki, Chugoku, Shikoku and Kyushu-Okinawa were left unchanged.
Overall, BoJ said, “many regions — while noting that their economy had remained in a severe situation due to the impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), primarily in consumption of services — reported that, on the whole, it had been on a pick-up trend or had started to pick up.”
Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said at the quarterly meeting of regional branch managers, “the pace of the recovery will be modest as caution over the pandemic remains.” Also, “services consumption will remain under pressure for the time being due to a resurgence in COVID-19 infections since last autumn.”
