TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The Bank of Japan downgraded on Thursday its assessments of all of the country's nine regional economies for the first time in over 11 years, as the coronavirus outbreak is having a significant impact on a wide range of business sectors.
The central bank said the regional economies "had been weak or facing strong downward pressure" from the spread of COVID-19 in its quarterly "Sakura Report," lowering its view on all the regions for the first time since January 2009 following the 2008 financial crisis.
