Japan upgrades economic views 1st time in 8 months 

(MENAFN - Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) The Japanese government on Wednesday upgraded its economic assessment for January for the first time in eight months, thanks to improvement in such areas as industrial output.

"While the Japanese economy shows weakness recently due to the deceleration of the world economy, signs of bottoming out can be seen in some areas," the Cabinet office said in its monthly economic report for January. The office also raised its assessment of industrial production, business sentiment and private consumption, but said that the global economy remains weak in the wake of the sovereign debt crisis in Europe.

Looking ahead, it said the economy is expected to continue to pick up on a recovery in exports and a JPY 10.3 trillion (USD 117 billion) economic stimulus package approved earlier this month by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government.

Abe, who took office late December, has put top priority on economic revival and urged the central bank to take aggressive monetary easing to overcome deflation and correct the strong yen. On Tuesday, Bank of Japan decided to adopt a 2 percent inflation target to and introduce the "open-ended asset purchasing method. "The improved assessment reflected the positive impact a weaker yen and higher share prices on corporate sentiment," Economic and fiscal policy minister Akira Amari told a press conference.