The Finance Ministry on Wednesday lowered its quarterly economic assessments of Japan's 11 regions for the October-December quarter, cutting its view across the board for the second consecutive time as the recession deepened amid a sharp global economic downturn.
With output, private consumption and employment conditions severely hit by the global economic crisis, the ministry also revised downward its overall evaluation of the nation's regional economies for the fourth consecutive quarter, saying conditions "have been worsening across Japan."
The ministry adopted the word "worsening" in the overall assessment for the first time since comparable data became available in 1985. It was also the first time in about a decade that the evaluation on all regions was downgraded for two quarters in a row, according to the ministry.
The quarterly report is based on assessments made by the ministry's 11 regional finance bureaus.