Bank of Japan’s April report of recent economic and financial developments1 Bank of Japan, 9 April 2003 * The Bank’s View  *  *  2  Economic activity remains flat as a whole, despite some signs of improvement, with greater uncertainty about the economic outlook partly due to Iraq-related developments.
With regard to final demand, although business fixed investment is starting to recover, private consumption continues to be weak. Moreover, housing investment remains sluggish and public investment is declining. While domestic demand has not shown clear signs of recovery, both exports and imports are increasing at a very modest pace with net exports remaining virtually level.