The Bank of Japan on Monday maintained most of its regional economic assessments, downgrading only one of nine regions, saying the economy has been recovering moderately despite some weakness following April's consumption tax increase.

The bank released a quarterly report on local economies, where smaller businesses have apparently been increasingly hit by weaker private consumption and industrial output after the tax hike as well as by costlier raw materials and other import prices due to the weaker yen.

"All regions . . . reported that the economy had continued to recover or had been recovering moderately as a trend," the quarterly report said, after the BOJ earlier in the day held a meeting of its branch managers where Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda stressed that the bank's aggressive monetary easing has worked to boost the economy.