TOKYO: Japan’s Ministry of Finance revised its economic assessments for six of the country’s 11 regions on the back of improvements in consumption and employment that reflected a temporary slowdown in COVID-19 infection cases, a quarterly report showed Wednesday.

The six regions are Hokkaido, Tohoku, Shikoku, Kyushu, Fukuoka and Okinawa, according to the report compiled at the day’s meeting of heads of the ministry’s local finance bureaus to check regional economic conditions in the past three months.

The assessments are based on economic indicators released after the ministry issued its previous assessment report in April and also on interviews with companies.

Looking ahead, the bureau chiefs showed concern over the effects from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and COVID-19 restrictions on economic activities in China.

Also, the ministry plans to closely monitor how regional economies would be impacted by the ongoing resurgence of novel coronavirus infections and soaring prices in Japan.

The ministry outlined in the April report its basic view that the Japanese economy as a whole is picking up moderately.

As for personal spending, the ministry upgraded its assessments for six regions–Hokkaido, Tohoku, Chugoku, Shikoku, Kyushu and Fukuoka–as consumption at hotels and restaurants picked up after stay-home requests related to the coronavirus pandemic were relaxed.

The ministry kept its views on personal spending unchanged for the remaining five regions.

On production activities, the ministry revised its assessments for the Kinki and Chugoku regions. It sees that automobile production has slowed due to prolonged semiconductor shortages and parts procurement difficulties caused by a COVID-19 lockdown in Shanghai.

The assessments on employment were upgraded for Kanto, Hokuriku and five other regions, in response to a rise in the number of job offers thanks to the resumption of economic activities.

JIJI Press