Bank of Japan Gov. Masaru Hayami said Monday the economy has stopped deteriorating but remains vulnerable to a weakening dollar and overseas market slides.
"The Japanese economy's bottoming-out trend will become more clear," Hayami said in an opening address at a quarterly BOJ branch manager meeting. "However, we need to closely watch global economic developments, especially in the United States, and those in domestic and overseas financial and asset markets, including foreign-exchange markets.
"We must stimulate domestic demand through structural reforms, before the full effects of monetary easing can be felt and the economy realizes self-sustaining growth."