标题全称：Monthly Report of Recent Economic and Financial Developments
发布报告的机构名称：Bank of Japan
报告发布时间：April 9, 2010
报告页数：62页。
报告的文件格式：pdf。
报告大小：742 kb。

Summary
Japan's economy has been picking up mainly due to improvement in overseas
economic conditions and to various policy measures, although there is not yet
sufficient momentum to support a self-sustaining recovery in domestic private
demand.
Exports and production have been increasing. Business sentiment has been
improving. Business fixed investment is leveling out. 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 be 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 moderate as
a trend as the aggregate supply and demand balance improves gradually.
The weighted average of the overnight call rate has been at around 0.1
percent. Interest rates on term instruments have declined somewhat. Compared
with last month, stock prices have risen, while the yen has depreciated against the
U.S. dollar. Meanwhile, long-term interest rates have remained at more or less the
same level.
Financial conditions, with some lingering severity, have shown increasing
signs of easing.
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 at current levels, 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, and even those for low-rated corporate bonds have shown signs
of improvement. 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 small firms still see their financial
positions as weak, on the whole financial positions of firms, including small ones,
have continued to show signs of easing. Meanwhile, the year-on-year rate of change
in the money stock has been in the range of 2.5-3.0 percent.