By Leika Kihara
TOKYO, Jan 8 (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan said on Thursday the country's regional economies were recovering gradually and many firms saw the need to continue raising wages, signaling its optimism over the outlook that could justify raising still-low interest rates further.
In a meeting of its regional branch managers, the central bank maintained its economic assessment for all nine regions compared with three months ago, saying they were picking up or recovering gradually.
In a summary of surveys by the regional branches, the BOJ also said many firms saw the need to raise wages in fiscal 2026 at around the same pace as 2025, reflecting high corporate profits and a tight labour market.
Some regions, however, said smaller firms were fretting that they could struggle to raise wages in fiscal 2026 as much as in 2025, the summary showed.
Many regions saw companies continuing to pass on higher input, labour and distribution costs through price hikes with some saying they were considering raising prices to incorporate higher costs from recent yen declines, the summary showed.
(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Lincoln Feast.)
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