The Bank of Japan (BOJ) on Friday further lowered its assessments on the economic situations of all Japan's nine regions.

During its quarterly meeting of its 32 branch managers, the central bank made the downgrading economic assessments of Hokkaido, Tohoku, Hokuriku, Kanto-Koshinetsu, Tokai, Kinki, Chugoku, Shikoku, and Kyushu-Okinawa in light of sluggish exports, declining corporate profits and shrinking individual consumption.

The economic conditions of Japan "have been deteriorating," said the BOJ's quarterly Sakura Report released after the meeting.

On October 20, 2008, the BOJ downgraded its evaluation of the nine regional economies, saying that despite the differences in regional economic conditions, Japan's economy as a whole had been sluggish.

(Xinhua News Agency January 16, 2009)