Japan upgrades economic views for 2nd straight month

The Japanese government on Thursday upgraded its overall economic assessment for the second straight month in June on the back of improvement in industrial production and exports. "The Japanese economy is picking up steadily," the Cabinet office said in its monthly economic report for June. The office said the "economy is picking up slowly" in the previous report for May. The office also raised its assessment of such categories as industrial production, exports, corporate profits and employment. "Industrial production is picking up and exports show movements of picking up," it said. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who took office in December, has promoted his ambitious economic policies called "Abenomics" platform to boost Japan's economy, which is focusing on easing monetary policy by the Bank of Japan and massive government spending. Japan's economy grew faster than initially estimated in the January-March on stronger corporate capital spending, the government said Monday. The world's No. 3 economy's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded at an annual 4.1 percent pace in the first quarter, higher than a preliminary figure of 3.5 percent released last month.