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"Mirroring the growing view that Japan will emerge from recession later this year, the Bank of Japan upgraded its economic forecasts today in one of its twice-yearly reviews. But it gave no sign of abandoning its ultraloose monetary policy, with short-term interest rates effectively at zero."
"The central bank said today that it now expected Japan's $4.1 trillion economy, the second-largest after the United States, to contract by about 0.5 percent in the fiscal year that began April 1. It had previously predicted a 1 percent contraction."
"But new statistics today showed that domestic demand remained anemic. Construction orders for March were 12.9 percent lower than in March 2001, and housing starts fell 6.3 percent from a year ago. And crude oil imports — Japan must import nearly all of its energy — were down 6.4 percent from a year before."
8:32:00 AM Google It! 
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