BoJ keeps economic assessment for 8 out of 9 regions in Japan

TOKYO: The Bank of Japan on Thursday maintained its economic assessment for eight of Japan's nine regional economies in a quarterly report, saying the economy has continued to recover or has been recovering moderately as a trend.

The central bank raised its assessment on just one region.

The report, issued at a meeting of its regional branch managers, was the first since Japan raised the sales tax to 8 percent from 5 percent this month.

In the previous report in January, the BOJ said all regions reported their economies were recovering or recovering moderately on firm domestic demand, a moderate increase in production, and improvements in employment and income conditions.