TOKYO, Oct. 9 (Kyodo) - The Finance Ministry on Tuesday reported a more dismal assessment of the state of the economy, citing slack consumer spending and corporate investment as well as deteriorating corporate earnings and record-high unemployment. "In general, conditions are more severe" the ministry said in summing up economic assessments by its 11 regional finance bureau chiefs. It is the third time in a year that the ministry has downgraded its economic assessment. In the previous report in June, the ministry said economic weakness increased further as a whole. All participants at the meeting of local finance bureau chiefs cut their assessment of local economies. In a sign of the negative impact of a slowing U.S. economy on exports, Makoto Hosomi, chief of the Tokai Finance Bureau, reported a fall in exports in volume terms of autos and machine tools at local manufacturers. The Tokai region includes a major industrial belt stretching from Shiuzoka Prefecture to Aichi Prefecture, where many major manufacturing plants are located, including those of Toyota Motor Corp. "There has been an increase in severity in the regional economy, mainly in corporate activity, and there is growing uncertainty about future economic prospects due to international economic trends," Hosomi said in his report on the economy in the Tokai region. As the tourism industry is being hit hard by weak consumer spending, Shoji Kodama, chief of the Hokuriku Finance Bureau, reported a sharp fall in the number of tourists to major hot-spring resorts. The local finance bureau chiefs meet once every quarter to exchange views on economic conditions.