The economy remains on a recovery path bolstered by firm personal spending and a pickup in production, the government said Thursday in its monthly economic report, leaving its bullish assessment unchanged for the fifth straight month.
The monthly report comes on the heels of stock market worries sparked by a massive selloff in tech shares Wednesday on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The selling spree prompted the bourse to cut short that session and to delay the Thursday afternoon trading session by 30 minutes to avoid a system overload.
"The economy is recovering at a moderate pace," the Cabinet Office said in the January report, adding that private consumption is rising moderately and industrial production is picking up.