BoJ maintains assessment for all 9 Japan's regions in quarterly report

The latest report released by the Bank of Japan (BoJ) for January indicated that the central bank made no changes to any of their economic assessments of the nine Japanese regions covered. Most regions stated that regional economies were "recovering moderately" or "picking up moderately." 

Key quotes

Many regions said many firms saw need to offer wage hikes in fiscal 2026 around same size as for 2025.

Some regions said firms were seeing need to hike pay not just for part-time but for permanent workers.

Some regions saw smaller firms saying hard to offer as much pay as that offered in fiscal 2025.

Many regions said firms continued to pass on input, labour and distribution costs via price hikes.

Some regions said firms were considering passing on rising costs from recent Yen weakness.

Some regions said exports, output being affected by US tariffs though others said robust global demand mainly for AI-related goods underpinning orders.

Many regions said impact of China restriction on travel to Japan limited, though some said firms were worried about negative impact expanding.

Market reaction

The USD/JPY pair is losing 0.05% on the day to trade at 156.70 at the press time.