• March 27, 2020
• views
• Print

Japan’s economy ‘extremely depressed’ due to COVID-19

The Japanese government has lowered its key assessment of the country’s economy. In its monthly report for March issued yesterday, the Cabinet Office has called the economy “extremely depressed” and said that it is in a “severe situation” because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The Japanese economy is in a severe situation, extremely depressed by the novel coronavirus," read the March 2020 report. Subsequently, the government has downgraded its views on seven out of 11 main categories, three of which are business sentiment, private consumption and capital expenditure. The report also had a grim assessment on imports, employment and public investment.

This is the first time in six years that the government has had such a glum economic outlook. Since July 2013, the term “recovering” or the phrase “on the way to recovery” had always been used. Even its report in February 2020 said that the economy was “recovering at a moderate pace” although it did note increased weakness in exports and manufacturing.