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Monthly Report of Recent Economic and Financial Developments 1 March 2010 (Summary)

(English translation prepared by the Bank's staff based on the Japanese original)

  1. This report is based on data and information available at the time of the Bank of Japan Monetary Policy Meeting held on March 16 and 17, 2010.

March 18, 2010
Bank of Japan

Japan's economy is picking up mainly due to various policy measures taken at home and abroad, although there is not yet sufficient momentum to support a self-sustaining recovery in domestic private demand.

Exports and production have been increasing. Business fixed investment is leveling out on the whole. Private consumption, notably durable goods consumption, is picking up mainly due to policy measures, despite the continued severe employment and income situation. The decline in housing investment has been coming to a halt. Meanwhile, public investment is declining.

Japan's economic conditions are likely to continue improving, although the pace of improvement is likely to remain moderate for the time being.

The uptrend in exports and production is expected to continue, reflecting continued improvement in overseas economic conditions, although the pace of increase is likely to moderate gradually. Amid the strong sense of excessive capital stock among firms, business fixed investment is likely to remain more or less unchanged for the time being, despite an improvement in corporate profits. Private consumption is likely to remain more or less unchanged for the time being amid the severe employment and income situation, despite the underpinning effect of policy measures. Meanwhile, the decline in public investment is likely to continue.

On the price front, the three-month rate of change in domestic corporate goods prices has recently risen somewhat, reflecting the increase in commodity prices, in spite of the persistent slack in supply and demand conditions for products. Consumer prices (excluding fresh food) are declining on a year-on-year basis due to the substantial slack in the economy as a whole, but the moderating trend in the pace of decline has continued.

Domestic corporate goods prices are likely to rise somewhat for the time being. The year-on-year pace of decline in consumer prices is likely to remain more or less unchanged for the time being, and then moderate as the aggregate supply and demand balance improves gradually.

The weighted average of the overnight call rate has been at around 0.1 percent, and interest rates on term instruments have remained more or less unchanged. Meanwhile, compared with last month, stock prices have risen, while the yen's exchange rate against the U.S. dollar and long-term interest rates have remained at more or less the same levels.

The financial environment, with some lingering severity, has continued to show signs of improvement.

The overnight call rate has remained at an extremely low level, and the declining trend in firms' funding costs has continued. With economic activity and corporate profits being at the current level, the stimulative effects from low interest rates are still partly constrained, but the degree of constraint has decreased mainly due to the improvement in corporate profits. With regard to credit supply, although many firms still see financial institutions' lending attitudes as severe, firms as a whole regard the situation as improving. Issuing conditions for CP and corporate bonds have remained favorable, except for low-rated corporate bonds. As for credit demand, firms' need to fund working capital and fixed investment has declined, and some firms have reduced the on-hand liquidity that they had accumulated. Against this backdrop, bank lending has declined on a year-on-year basis, partly due to its high growth a year ago. The amount outstanding of corporate bonds has exceeded the previous year's level, while that of CP has declined. In these circumstances, although many firms, mainly small ones, still see their financial positions as weak, on the whole firms' financial positions have continued to improve. Meanwhile, the year-on-year rate of change in the money stock has been in the range of 2.5-3.0 percent.