TOKYO -- The Bank of Japan on Wednesday forecast the nation's economy to contract 4.7% in fiscal 2020 despite recent signs of gradual recovery, a reminder that bouncing back from the coronavirus pandemic will be difficult.
The estimate, released in a quarterly outlook report, is the median of forecasts from all BOJ policy board members, which ranged from minus 4.5% to minus 5.7%. The range represented a worsening from the April estimate of a contraction of between 3.0% and 5.0%.
