The Bank of Japan said today in a monthly report that the Japanese economy will continue recovering despite some soft patches, leaving its view unchanged from December.
'Japan's economy is expected to continue to recover,' the central bank said in the January report.
Exports have been flat and industrial output has been soft, hit by slowing demand in the information technology sector, but both corporate investment in factories and offices and the labour market were on an uptrend, the bank said.
Japan's industrial production rose 1.5% in November month-on-month, the first such rise in three months, after falling 1.3% in October.
A survey of manufacturers by the trade ministry showed that industrial output may fall 0.9% in December, but rise 2.8% in January.
Japan's trade surplus in November shrank 39.2% from a year earlier, the first drop in three months, as exports grew only 13.4% while imports expanded 28%, according to the finance ministry.
On deflation, the bank said consumer prices were expected to decline slightly from year-earlier levels.
Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan's policy board also voted unanimously to leave its ultra-easy monetary policy unchanged, as expected, after recent data painted a mixed picture of the world's second-largest economy.
