The confirmed GDP for FY2015  has totaled 532.2 trillion yen with a 2.8% nominal increase from the previous year, according to the Cabinet Office announcement on Thursday. After revisions in accounting standards increased the figure, it has come closer to the Abe administration’s aim of marking 600 trillion yen in 2020. However, some economists see the goal still difficult to achieve.   New calculation….Read more

TOKYO — Japan’s economy grew an annualized 2.2% for the July-September quarter, but the export-driven growth leaves some concerned about the economy’s dependence on external factors.   Real gross domestic product climbed 0.5% from the previous quarter to mark a third straight quarter of expansion, according to preliminary figures released Monday by the Cabinet Office. But growth is not exactly picking up.….Read more

Skeptical about the accuracy of economic statistics that produce contradicting figures depending on the institution conducting the study, the Abe administration has embarked on overall review and consolidation of similar statistics. Inaccurate statistical results could lead to the formulation of misguided policies. Minister of State for Regulatory Reform Kozo Yamamoto says that “it’s not certain how reliable the data is.” Opposition parties, however, voiced….Read more

The government and the private sector are holding active discussions to review the existing economic statistics. On Sept. 28, the Cabinet Office convened its first meeting of experts on the subject, and Keizai Doyukai (Japan Association of Corporate Executives) proposed the government improve statistics for such indexes as gross domestic product on the same day. Behind these moves is the widespread….Read more

The Gini coefficient, an indicator of the income gap among households, was 0.3759 in the 2014 [Income Redistribution] survey, a decline of 0.0032 points from the previous survey taken in 2011, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) announced on Sept. 15. The closer the coefficient is to 1, the greater the income gap, meaning that the gap shrunk….Read more

TOKYO — Economists increasingly see Japanese consumer price growth languishing in negative territory for the rest of the year, with declines among a growing range of everyday goods raising a red flag.   The consumer price index excluding fresh food sank 0.5% on the year in July, falling for a fifth straight month, government data released Friday shows. This marks the….Read more

The Development Bank of Japan (DBJ) published on Aug. 4 the results of its survey of major companies’ capital investment plans in FY16.

Key economic data for June released on July 29 underscore that while employment is improving, spillovers to personal spending remain lackluster. The ratios of job offers to seekers topped 1 for the first time in all prefectures, but personal spending dwindled, which brought weak personal consumption and declining prices into sharp relief. Now attention is being paid to how the….Read more