TOKYO (MNI) – The Japanese government on Tuesday left its overall
economic assessment unchanged in its monthly report for January while
revising down its view on exports amid slowing global demand.
“The Japanese economy is still picking up slowly, while
difficulties continue to prevail due to the Great East Japan
Earthquake,” it said.
Despite growing global uncertainties, the government maintained its
economic assessment because industrial output, a key coincident
indicator of the economy, has remained on a recovery trend, said Minoru
Masujima, director of macroeconomic analysis at the Cabinet Office.
But the official assessment of exports was revised down to
“weakening” from “leveling off” — the first downgrade in three months
— in light of slowing overseas demand, the strong yen and the supply
chain disruption caused by major floods in Thailand last year.
Export volume posted the second straight month-to-month drop on a
seasonally adjusted basis in November, down 2.5% after -5.0% in October.
The November export volume index stood at 95.2 (against 100.0 for 2005),
marking the lowest level since 93.0 in May 2011, according to the
Cabinet Office.
The government repeated its outlook, saying, “Reflecting the
effects of policy measures, the Japanese economy is expected to continue
to pick up moderately.”
Among downside risks are the European debt crisis, constraints of
electric power supply, the consequences of the nuclear disaster, the
adverse effects of deflation and concern about a weaker labor market.
The government repeated that the global economy remains “weak” as
its upgrading of the U.S. economy offset its downgrading of Europe.
tokyo@marketnews.com
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