GulfBase Live Support
Leave a message and our representative will contact you soon
16/08/2016 04:47 AST
Japan’s economy stalled in the April-June quarter, data showed on Monday, missing market forecasts and rekindling worries about the government’s faltering bid to stoke a recovery.
Growth in the world’s third largest economy was flat at 0.0 per cent on-quarter, falling below economists’ expectations for a modest 0.2 per cent expansion, as weak exports and a fall in business spending dented activity.
On an annualised basis, the economy expanded by a slight 0.2 per cent in the latest period, well off expectations for a 0.7 per cent rise and a 1.9 per cent growth rate seen in the first quarter of the year.
Japanese officials are under growing pressure to deliver as economists increasingly write off Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s years-long bid to cement a lasting recovery, dubbed Abenomics.
Inflation dropped for a fourth straight month in June, delivering a fresh blow to Abe’s war on deflation.
Business confidence has slumped to levels last seen when he swept to power in late 2012 on a ticket to fire up an economy beset by years of falling prices and weak growth.
Tokyo recently announced a whopping 28 trillion yen ($276 billion) package aimed at kickstarting growth, after Britain’s June vote to quit the European Union sent financial markets into a tailspin and sparked a yen rally.
The second quarter drop in business spending comes as the strong yen threatens corporate Japan’s bottom line - aggravating broader concerns about growth.
Investors tend to buy Japan’s currency as a safe bet in times of turmoil or uncertainty.
But it makes its exporters less competitive overseas and hits profits at Japan Inc.
The problem was highlighted recently as many of the county’s best-known firms, including Sony and Toyota, reported lower profits in the three months to June. Abe’s plan - a mix of massive monetary easing, government spending and red-tape slashing - initially brought the yen down from record highs and set off a stock market rally.
But promises to cut through red tape have been slower, and Abe’s plan to buoy Japan’s once-booming economy have looked increasingly unrealistic.
His spend-for-growth policies have set Japan apart from some of its rich nation counterparts, including Germany which has been reluctant to endorse them, seeing it as an ineffective way to stimulate the economy.
Abe reshuffled his cabinet in early August after easily winning upper house elections, and vowed to speed up his battle with deflation.
The Gulf Today
Ticker | Price | Volume |
---|---|---|
SABIC | 114.77 | 5,915,941 |
Index | Closing | Change |
---|---|---|
NIKKEI 225 | 21,292.29 | -96.29 (-0.45 |
DAX | 12,002.45 | -94.28 (-0.77 |
S&P 500 | 2,614.45 | 32.57 (1.26 |
05/04/2018
Stock markets recoiled on Wednesday as China retaliated in an escalating trade war with the United States, leaving investors reluctant to take positions in anything but the safest of assets.
The Gulf Today
04/04/2018
Egypt will start meeting bond investors in Europe this week ahead of a potential euro-denominated bond issue, a document from one of the banks appointed to arrange the meetings showed on Tuesday.
Gulf News
04/04/2018
Foreign investment in France rose 16 per cent in 2017 to levels not seen for a decade as President Emmanuel Macron’s (pictured) bid to attract money from abroad gains pace, a government report said o
Oman Daily Observer
03/04/2018
Explaining Japan’s economy to foreign audiences is hard.
One big reason for this is that explaining something as large and complex as a $5 trillion economy is an inherently difficult task - the
The National
03/04/2018
China raised import duties on a $3 billion list of US meat, apples and other products on Monday in an escalating dispute with Washington over trade and industrial policy.
The government of
The Gulf Today