Looking at domestic demand, private consumption as a whole has remained resilient with the employment and income situation improving steadily, although recovery in some areas has been sluggish.
As for durable consumer goods, which had exhibited a notable decline in demand following the front-loaded increase prior to the consumption tax hike, the number of new passenger-car registrations almost bottomed out in the July-September quarter of 2014, and since then has shown some signs of picking up, albeit with large fluctuations in the number of small cars with engine sizes of 660cc or less.