japan

Japanese economic growth was revised down on Thursday, after an unexpected decline in oil inventories and private consumption.

Gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 0.3 percent in the first quarter, according to the revised figures, the 0.5 percent initially predicted in last month’s preliminary reading.

The annual growth rate was also revised down, to 1 percent from the initial reading of 2.2 percent.

Although the figures are much weaker than initially expected, they still represent growth for the economy for the fifth quarter in a row. The figures come after the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank both raised their projections for Japanese expansion.

The world’s third largest economy has seen rapid improvement over the past year, after several quarters of worrying decline. The Japanese central bank is expected to meet next week and is likely to keep policy unchanged following the latest data.

 

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Miranda is the online editor of UK Investor Magazine. Her interests include private equity, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer lending, gender equality and coffee.