Japan's Apr. - Jun. Gdp Revised Down


Japan's Apr.-Jun. GDP revised down

Japan's GDP for the April to June quarter has been revised downward, confirming that the economy shrank at a record pace as the coronavirus impact was bigger than initially estimated.

The Cabinet Office now says the economy shrank at an annualized rate of minus 28.1 percent in real terms. That's a bit worse than preliminary figure of minus 27.8 percent announced in August, which was already a record.

Corporate capital spending was the biggest drag. Businesses are holding off from making investments due to the economic uncertainty.

Personal consumption, which accounts for more than half of Japan's GDP, was hit hard as well.

The quarter-on-quarter figure was revised to minus 7.9 percent from minus 8.2 percent announced earlier.

But things may be turning around. Many private research firms are forecasting that the Japanese economy will grow in the July-September period.

The focus is now on whether Japan can quickly put its economy back on track while trying to contain the coronavirus.