In its latest monthly economic assessment on July 19, the Japanese government maintained its view that its economy has seen increased weakness in some sectors, as measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 continued to weigh on consumption in July.  "The economy shows increased weakness in some parts, though it continued picking up amid severe conditions due to the coronavirus," the Cabinet Office said in its July economic assessment released on Monday.

The office retained its view on private consumption, saying it has shown further weakness recently, especially in services spending. A government official said the office gave up on upgrading the evaluation for consumer spending after seeing it worsen this month. The office said the private consumption "has shown further weakness recently, especially in services spending". Especially, spending on entertainment-related activities picked up in late June. But this month, consumption became sluggish again as a whole, so we ended up maintaining the assessment," a government official said.

The government’s latest view on the overall economic situation came after Tokyo entered a fourth state of emergency over the pandemic July 12, due to a surge in COVID-19 cases following the end of the third emergency late last month.

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