The heads of the Finance Ministry's regional bureaus agreed Sept. 10 that the economy, although dampened by the April hike in the consumption tax, is still on a moderate recovery course.

Most of the 11 bureaus and offices represented at the meeting reported that the 2 percentage point rise in the consumption tax, coupled with relatively bad weather during the summer months, adversely affected personal spending.

But many of the officials said their local economies were helped by the yen's depreciation against the dollar, which aided exports.

The officials also said capital investment generally appeared stable.