The economy is showing increasing signs of deterioration across the board in every part of the nation, regional financial bureaus reported to the Finance Ministry on Wednesday.
The bleak picture was presented during a semiannual meeting of the ministry's 11 regional outposts, and indicated that even the economies of the Tokai region, Fukuoka and Okinawa, which had previously shown some healthy signs, had taken a turn for the worse.
In Hokkaido and the Tohoku region, especially, the economic situation was clearly described as weak. According to the accounts, personal consumption was weak and corporate earnings were falling in all areas of the country. Both housing construction and public works were at levels lower than during the previous year.
Corporate investment was expected to log a year-on-year increase for the 1997 fiscal year, which ended in March, but was projected to fall in fiscal 1998. Company failures, meanwhile, were reported at levels that were significantly higher than those for the previous year.