AFP, Tokyo :
Japan’s economy grew slightly faster than initially thought in the first quarter of this year, due partly to better-than-expected corporate investment, official figures showed Monday.
The world’s third-biggest economy grew 0.6 percent quarter-on-quarter, up from the preliminary figure of 0.5 percent, the cabinet office said.
The latest data was being closely watched amid speculation Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government could postpone a planned sales tax hike for the third time if the data was very weak.
A report on Sunday however said Abe’s government is now expected to hike the tax to 10 percent from eight percent in October, as scheduled, with the ruling party expecting a landslide victory in an upper house election planned next month.
It was the second successive expansion for the Japanese economy after growth of 0.5 percent in the fourth quarter of last year and defied gloomy expectations by analysts who predicted a small decline at the start of 2019.
As in the preliminary data, net exports contributed strongly to the latest growth figures but only because the fall in imports outweighed a decline in exports, the cabinet office said.
Corporate investment was slightly stronger than estimated in the preliminary data, it said.
Japan’s economy grew slightly faster than initially thought in the first quarter of this year, due partly to better-than-expected corporate investment, official figures showed Monday.
The world’s third-biggest economy grew 0.6 percent quarter-on-quarter, up from the preliminary figure of 0.5 percent, the cabinet office said.
The latest data was being closely watched amid speculation Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government could postpone a planned sales tax hike for the third time if the data was very weak.
A report on Sunday however said Abe’s government is now expected to hike the tax to 10 percent from eight percent in October, as scheduled, with the ruling party expecting a landslide victory in an upper house election planned next month.
It was the second successive expansion for the Japanese economy after growth of 0.5 percent in the fourth quarter of last year and defied gloomy expectations by analysts who predicted a small decline at the start of 2019.
As in the preliminary data, net exports contributed strongly to the latest growth figures but only because the fall in imports outweighed a decline in exports, the cabinet office said.
Corporate investment was slightly stronger than estimated in the preliminary data, it said.
