Tadao Noda, a member of the Bank of Japan's policy board, said in a speech published on Thursday that the recovery in Japan's economy was likely to moderate temporarily due to a decline in export growth.

At a meeting in Yamaguchi, Noda said "The [Japanese] economy is likely to recover at a moderate pace on the whole, with exports continuing to increase. However, the pace of increase in exports is likely to remain moderate for the time being."

Noda said economic activity is likely to slow