Japan's April-June GDP growth revised down to annualized real 2.9%

Japan
Photo: Kyodo

Japan's economy grew an annualized real 2.9 percent in the April-June quarter, revised down from an initially reported 3.1 percent, as private consumption and capital spending were not as high as previously thought, the Cabinet Office said Monday, Kyodo reports. 

Despite the downward revision, the figure marked the first growth in two quarters as the negative impact of a safety data-rigging scandal in the auto sector eased, helping to boost personal consumption.

Real gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation, grew 0.7 percent from the previous quarter, compared with the preliminary reading of 0.8 percent. GDP is the total value of goods and services produced in a country.

Capital investment, reported earlier as an increase of 0.9 percent, was revised down to growth of 0.8 percent in the April-June period.

Private consumption, which accounts for more than half of GDP, increased 0.9 percent, marking the first rise in five quarters, but the figure was smaller than the earlier reported 1.0 percent gain due to weaker-than-expected demand for confectionery and dining out.

The GDP figures were in line with the government's view that the world's fourth-largest economy is recovering at a moderate pace, backing the case for the Bank of Japan to raise its policy rate further, following its second hike this year in July.

"The downward revision is within the scope of a minor adjustment and there is no change to the view that the economy is recovering moderately," Shinichiro Kobayashi, a senior economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting.

"Although the economy is expected to continue expanding in the July-September quarter, it may not grow as much as expected due to sluggish consumer spending," Kobayashi said, citing such factors as cancellations of travel plans due to unstable weather conditions and a government advisory last month on a potential megaquake.

Meanwhile, year-on-year growth in real wages in June and July is likely to support private consumption, Kobayashi said.

According to the Cabinet Office, exports climbed 1.5 percent, upwardly revised from 1.4 percent, helped by auto shipments. Public investment climbed 4.1 percent, revised down from 4.5 percent.

Nominal GDP grew at an annualized rate of 7.2 percent, slower than the previously reported 7.4 percent.

On a nominal basis, Japan's GDP totaled 607.58 trillion yen ($4.3 trillion), surpassing 600 trillion yen for the first time -- a target set by the government in 2015 under former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

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