Economic activity holding up, 70% telework target

The measures announced by local governments this week to contain the “second wave” of coronavirus cases will probably have to be tightened further in some regions. But they’re unlikely to be draconian enough to reverse the strong rebound in goods consumption suggested by June’s retail sales data. That said, one drastic change that has been called for by Economy Minister Nishimura this week is for firms to have 70% of their staff work from home. If achieved, such a measure wouldn’t harm economic activity as much as business closure requests, but it probably would be a slight drag on economic activity in the near term.