BOJ lowers assessments of 2 regions as recovery from pandemic slows

The Bank of Japan on Monday downgraded its economic assessments of two of the country's nine regions -- Chugoku and Shikoku -- as the pace of recovery from the coronavirus pandemic is slowing. In its quarterly Sakura report for July, the BOJ raised its outlooks for two regions while maintaining its assessments of the remaining five, underscoring the uneven nature of economic recovery. The Japanese central bank said the economy remains in a "severe situation" due to the impact of the pandemic but many reported that the economy has "picked up as a trend" or "started to pick up." The two regions ...