Japan's April-June economic growth revised up to annualized 1.5%+

TOKYO, Sept. 9 Kyodo -
Japan's economy expanded an annualized real 1.5 percent in the April-June
quarter, greater than the initially reported 0.4 percent, as data for corporate
capital investment has been revised upward, government data showed Friday.
The revision does not bring a change to the fact that the economy grew for the
third straight quarter, albeit at a slower rate than the previous quarter amid
the diminishing effects of fiscal stimulus, but government officials were more
cautious about the outlook.
''The direction that the economy is picking up has not changed,'' Satoshi Arai,
state minister for economic and fiscal policy, told a press conference. Finance
Minister Yoshihiko Noda made similar remarks separately.
The growth in gross domestic product corresponds to an expansion of 0.4 percent
from the previous quarter through March, revised upward from the earlier
announced 0.1 percent rise, according to revised data from the Cabinet Office.
As for the outlook, however, Cabinet Office Parliamentary Secretary Keisuke
Tsumura warned of risks such as the yen's rise and the slowdown in the global
economy, saying, ''The prospects do not allow optimism.''
Capital spending was revised upward to 1.5 percent growth from the originally
estimated 0.5 percent expansion. Private inventory, which pushed down the GDP
by 0.2 percentage point in the initial estimate, was also revised upward to a
negative contribution of 0.1 point.
Tsumura said that he can evaluate the expansion of capital spending that
continued for three straight quarters as a ''move toward a self-sustaining
recovery.''
Some economists predicted that GDP for three months through September will
maintain positive growth partly because consumer spending is likely to get a
boost toward the end this month from last-minute demand for a government
subsidy program to encourage purchases of environmentally friendly vehicles.
But with car sales expected to drop once the surge in demand ends and with
exports likely to grow at a sluggish pace amid the expected slowdown of the
U.S., Chinese and other economies, Yasuo Yamamoto, an economist at the Mizuho
Research Institute, said that the October-December GDP will likely turn into a
negative growth.
According to the Cabinet Office, external demand contributed 0.3 percentage
point to GDP growth, unchanged from the initial report, while the contribution
of domestic demand came in at 0.04 percent, up from the 0.2 percent negative
contribution.
Consumer spending, which makes up around 60 percent of Japanese GDP, was
slightly revised downward from the original estimate of 0.03 percent growth to
0.00 percent. Housing investment was unchanged at a 1.3 percent decrease.
Public investment was revised upward from a 3.4 percent fall to a 2.7 percent
fall.
The GDP deflator, a broad indicator of price trends, fell 1.0 percent from the
previous quarter, unchanged from the initial report.
On a nominal basis, which reflects price fluctuations, GDP for April-June
contracted 0.6 percent from the previous quarter, which translates into an
annualized fall of 2.5 percent, against a 0.9 percent decline and an annualized
3.7 percent shrinkage in the preliminary report.
GDP is the total value of goods and services produced domestically.
==Kyodo
2010-09-10 23:10:05


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