TOKYO, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Bank of Japan (BOJ) on Thursday said that all regional economies across the country had been expanding or recovering from a string of natural disasters that struck the nation in the summer on the back of steady income and spending and uptick in overseas exports.
In the central bank's quarterly "Sakura Report," the BOJ highlighted that both Japan's northern Hokkaido and southwestern Chugoku regions had upwardly revised their assessments, following a downward revision in the wake of a powerful earthquake in September, which rocked the north, and heavy rain, which pummeled the southwest in July.
"According to assessments from regions across Japan, all nine regions reported that their economy had been either expanding or recovering," the BOJ said in its quarterly report.
"Compared with the previous assessment in October 2018, the Hokkaido and Chugoku regions, which had revised down their assessments due to the effects of the natural disasters - namely, the 2018 Hokkaido Eastern Iburi Earthquake and the heavy rain in July 2018 - revised up their assessments, taking into account the progress in restoration and reconstruction," the report stated.
The assessments for the other seven regions of Tohoku, Hokuriku, Kanto-Koshinetsu, Tokai, Kinki, Shikoku, and Kyushu-Okinawa, were unchanged, the central bank said.
