Taking this situation into account, the Bank has continued to revise downward its assessment of Japan’s economy as a whole, and assessed at the Monetary Policy Meeting on October 30 that the economy has been “weakening somewhat.”  2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  Going forward, developments in Japan’s economy will basically depend on those in overseas economies.
Using the outlook for overseas economies I mentioned earlier as an assumption basis, Japanese economic activity is expected to be more or less flat for the time being. Exports and production are likely to remain relatively weak for the time being, and domestic demand as a whole is unlikely to increase at a pace that will outperform the weakness in exports.