Japan is still the world's second-biggest economy as fourth-quarter growth beat expectations and kept the country just ahead of a surging China.
Real GDP grew at an annual pace of 4.6 percent in the October-December period, the government said yesterday. The average forecast of 15 economists polled by The Associated Press was annualized growth of 3.4 percent.
The results indicate that Japan continues to benefit from government stimulus measures around the world, which have bolstered global trade and persuaded Japanese households to boost spending.
GDP, or the total value of the nation's goods and services, has climbed for three straight quarters. The annualized figure corresponds to quarterly growth of 1.1 percent. Japan posted zero growth in the July-September quarter.
Japan's nominal GDP for the 2009 calendar year came to about US$5.1 trillion. China said last month its domestic output totaled US$4.9 trillion.
Government officials said they were encouraged by the latest numbers, particularly since it was the first time in seven quarters for domestic demand to push GDP higher. Consumer spending, which accounts for about 60 percent of the economy, rose 0.7 percent from the previous quarter as shoppers took advantage of incentives on cars and home appliances.
Companies are also gaining confidence and starting to invest in factories and equipment.
Japan may now be strong enough to avoid falling back into recession, Kyodo News quoted Cabinet official Keisuke Tsumura as saying.
Analysts agreed but predicted that consumer demand would decelerate, dragging growth in the months ahead and putting pressure on Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama to draw up more stimulus measures.
“Policy benefits will fade in subsequent quarters and deflationary tendencies remain stubborn,” said Tetsufumi Yamakawa, chief Japan economist at Goldman Sachs.
Corporate capital spending climbed 1 percent in the first expansion since January-March 2008. Public investment fell 1.6 percent, while exports jumped 5 percent.
The fourth-quarter figures cap a miserable economic year overall that sent Japan to its steepest recession since World War II. GDP fell a record 5 percent last year, the Cabinet said in a report.
Japan managed to hold on to its spot as the world's No. 2 economy, though analysts expect a quickly growing China to overtake it sometime this year.
But it is precisely the strength of China and other emerging markets in Asia that has lifted Japan from its downturn, helping to offset domestic risks such as deflation and falling wages.
Exports in December rose for the first time since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in late 2008, powering industrial production up 2.2 percent from the previous month.
Other major economies also face uncertainty ahead.
The US economy expanded at an annual rate of 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter, but many analysts predict a slowdown this quarter as double-digit unemployment chills consumer spending.
The 16 countries that use the euro barely grew in the fourth quarter, as a modest recovery stalled amid turmoil in financially troubled members such as Greece and a flat performance from Germany, the biggest euro economy.
Also See: Asian trading sluggish as markets fret about Greece
AGING: As of last month, people aged 65 or older accounted for 20.06 percent of the total population and the number of couples who got married fell by 18,685 from 2024 Taiwan has surpassed South Korea as the country least willing to have children, with an annual crude birthrate of 4.62 per 1,000 people, Ministry of the Interior data showed yesterday. The nation was previously ranked the second-lowest country in terms of total fertility rate, or the average number of children a woman has in her lifetime. However, South Korea’s fertility rate began to recover from 2023, with total fertility rate rising from 0.72 and estimated to reach 0.82 to 0.85 by last year, and the crude birthrate projected at 6.7 per 1,000 people. Japan’s crude birthrate was projected to fall below six,
Conflict with Taiwan could leave China with “massive economic disruption, catastrophic military losses, significant social unrest, and devastating sanctions,” a US think tank said in a report released on Monday. The German Marshall Fund released a report titled If China Attacks Taiwan: The Consequences for China of “Minor Conflict” and “Major War” Scenarios. The report details the “massive” economic, military, social and international costs to China in the event of a minor conflict or major war with Taiwan, estimating that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could sustain losses of more than half of its active-duty ground forces, including 100,000 troops. Understanding Chinese
US President Donald Trump in an interview with the New York Times published on Thursday said that “it’s up to” Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) what China does on Taiwan, but that he would be “very unhappy” with a change in the “status quo.” “He [Xi] considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him what he’s going to be doing, but I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that. I hope he doesn’t do that,” Trump said. Trump made the comments in the context
SELF-DEFENSE: Tokyo has accelerated its spending goal and its defense minister said the nation needs to discuss whether it should develop nuclear-powered submarines China is ramping up objections to what it sees as Japan’s desire to acquire nuclear weapons, despite Tokyo’s longstanding renunciation of such arms, deepening another fissure in the two neighbors’ increasingly tense ties. In what appears to be a concerted effort, China’s foreign and defense ministries issued statements on Thursday condemning alleged remilitarism efforts by Tokyo. The remarks came as two of the country’s top think tanks jointly issued a 29-page report framing actions by “right-wing forces” in Japan as posing a “serious threat” to world peace. While that report did not define “right-wing forces,” the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs was
RSS