TOKYO (MNI) – The Bank of Japan on Wednesday maintained its
cautiously optimistic outlook for exports and production despite the
global slowdown and the strong yen.
“Exports and production are expected to remain more or less flat
for the time being and increase moderately thereafter, mainly reflecting
a pick-up in the pace of recovery in overseas economies,” the BOJ said
in its monthly report for January.
Production will also be supported by fiscal stimulus for rebuilding
the earthquake-hit northeastern region, it added.
“According to anecdotes by firms and other information, the
production for the fourth quarter of 2011 is expected to be flat from
the previous quarter,” the bank said.
Industrial output for the first three months of this year will also
be unchanged from the previous quarter, it said.
The BOJ maintained its outlook that the economy “is expected to
return to a moderate recovery path.”
BOJ Governor Masaaki Shirakawa on Tuesday said the global slowdown
and the strong yen are pushing back the timing of a more sustained
economic recovery in Japan.
He told reporters that the nine-member policy board that he chairs
agreed that an export-led gradual recovery will come “slightly later”
than anticipated previously.
Japan’s economy is expected to gradually return to a moderate
recovery path in the first half of fiscal 2012, the BOJ said on Tuesday
after a two-day policy meeting.
At the meeting, the board voted unanimously to continue the bank’s
very stimulative, practically zero interest rate policy, while still
projecting a 2% economic growth and a slight price gain in the next
fiscal year despite Europe’s debt crisis.
tokyo@marketnews.com
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