JAPAN'S central bank has left its key interest rate unchanged at 0.3 per cent, three weeks after reducing borrowing costs for the first time in seven years to tackle the recession.

"The outlook remains highly uncertain and given the slowdown in overseas economies and the turmoil in global financial markets, it will likely take some time for the necessary conditions for Japan's economic recovery to be satisified,'' the Bank of Japan said.

The decision by the monetary policy board to hold rates steady was unanimous, it said.

GERMANS are generally more pessimistic about the future than any other Europeans, according to a study by two of the country's research institutes. The survey found only 30 per cent of Germans believe they will be better off in five years, a figure below the average across the 27 countries of the European Union.

It was conducted by the Social Sciences Research Centre Berlin (WZB) and Centre for Survey Research and Methodology in Mannheim (ZUMA).

"It could be something in the German culture," said Heinz-Herbert Noll, a senior researcher at ZUMA. "We've all heard of the German 'angst', after all."