Japan exports must rise to sustain recovery

AOMORI: Japan's exports must strengthen more to maintain an economic recovery that is now driven mostly by domestic demand, a Bank of Japan policymaker said, signalling that global uncertainties remain a threat to the plan to escape deflation in two years.

Board member Koji Ishida stuck to the central bank's assessment that the economy was recovering moderately, pointing to the resilience in personal consumption. But he warned a slow increase in exports is discouraging companies from boosting capital expenditure and weighing on factory output.