Bank of Japan policymakers have weighed the effects of a possible slowdown in the global information technology industry on the domestic recovery, according to minutes of last month's meeting released Monday.
Some members of the central bank's Policy Board "noted a concern that the economic recovery might stall if inventory adjustments of IT-related goods were severe and sudden as at the time of the bursting of the IT bubble in 2001," the minutes show.
They were quoted as saying developments in demand for IT-related goods were a key factor in assessing the future course of the economy. The two-day meeting began Sept. 8.
But board members saw no need to "change the basic assessment that the economy would gather stronger momentum as effects of the improvement in the corporate sector extended into the household sector," the minutes say.
They also agreed there was no significant change in the underlying trend of prices.