JAPAN DATA: The Japanese government upgraded its overall economic
assessment for the first time in four months, saying there are signs of
an improvement in production capacity from the sharp downturn triggered
by the March 11 earthquake disaster. It also presented a slightly
brighter outlook but warned that a further slowing in global economic
growth is now a downside risk to a sustained recovery in Japan. “Upward
movements are observed in the Japanese economy while difficulties
continued to prevail, due to the Great East Japan Earthquake,” the
government said in its monthly economic report for June. Last month,
when it left its assessment unchanged, the government said: “The economy
shows weakness recently, due to impact of the Great East Japan
Earthquake. It remains in a difficult situation, with a high
unemployment rate.”