Markets

Japan's economy increased 1 percent, not down 0.8 percent, says Cabinet Office

The Japanese government's Cabinet Office that the country's economy rose at an annualized growth rate of 1 percent, unlike its previous announcement of a 0.8 percent decrease.

The Diplomat reported that the growth was mainly due to consumer spending and more investments from the private sector. This is very encouraging to the country, because it will lead closer to the success of "Abenomics." Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is now focused on economics as the 2016 Upper House election draws near.

According to the Business Standard, capital investiture went up 0.6 percent in the third quarter this year. The Cabinet Office previously estimated it to go down by 1.3 percent. The data encourages confidence that would let the Bank fo Japan hold off additional easing as inflation is less likely.

"The data was a positive surprise for markets. It's a welcome one for us too," said Economics Minister Akira Amari. "Companies are starting to implement their capital expenditure plans."

"Japan's economy is back on a recovery track after a soft patch. The data points to an improvement in capital spending," Tokai Tokyo Research Center Co. chief economist Hiroaki Muto said. "The recovery is nowhere near what you'd call strong but we don't have to be too pessimistic either."

Bloomberg News gave more significant data regarding Japan's economy. After the surprisingly strong figures on capital expenditures last week, economists changed their forecast and expected a 0.2 percent increase.

Meanwhile, GDP for the second quarter was also revised from a -0.7 percent decrease to only 0.5 percent drop. Private consumption rose 0.4 percent from a quarter before. Private inventories removed 0.2 percentage points from the increase, which is less than 0.5 percentage points that was initially projected.

Last month, Abe ordered the consolidation of the extra budget for the present fiscal year. The package that could be worth 3.5 trillion yen could give financial support to low-income pensioners. Meanwhile, the yen went up 0.1 percent to 123.24 a dollar Tuesday.


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