MNI POLICY: Japan Govt Ups Its Economy View

--Japan sees domestic economy 'almost stopped deteriorating'

     TOKYO (MNI) - Japan's government on Friday upgraded its economic assessment

as the economy starts to pick up, but says the economy is "still" in an

extremely severe situation due to the coronavirus pandemic, "but it has almost

stopped deteriorating."

     The upward revision of the economic assessment is the first since January

2018.

     The previous assessment was "The Japanese economy is worsening rapidly in

an extremely severe situation, due to the Novel Coronavirus."

     --UPS CONSUMPTION, CORPORATE CONDITION

     The government also upgraded its assessment of private consumption and

corporate condition, for the first time since January 2018 and for the first

since April 2017, respectively.

     The latest report said private consumption "is showing movements of picking

up recently as the state of emergency was limited."

     It also said that corporate profits are decreasing rapidly due to the

influence of the infectious disease. Firms' judgment "shows signs of

improvement, although some severe aspects remain."

     In April, the government used the wording "worse" in describing economic

climate, for the first in almost 11 years.

     --TWEAKS EMPLOYMENT

     The government tweaked its assessment on employment, saying that employment

situation "is showing weakness due to the influence of the infectious disease",

having previously said the situation shows some weak movements further due to

the influence of the infectious disease. 

     --TO MOVE TOWARD PICKUP

     As for the near-term outlook, the government was modestly upbeat, saying

the economy is "expected to move toward picking up from an extremely severe

situation, supported by the effects of the policies" and socio-economic

activities will be resumed gradually while taking measures to prevent the spread

of the infectious disease.

     "However" attention should be given to "the trend of domestic and overseas

infections", and the effects of fluctuations in the financial and capital

markets, the government said.

--MNI Tokyo Bureau; tel: +81 90-2175-0040; email: hiroshi.inoue@marketnews.com

--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 203-586-2225; email: les.commons@marketnews.com

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