Japan's GDP grows annualized 2.4 pct in Q1
17/5/2007 16:00
Japan's economy grew at an annualized 2.4 percent in real terms in the
first quarter of this year, the Cabinet Office said in a preliminary report
today.
The growth corresponds to a 0.6 percent expansion in gross domestic
product (GDP) from the previous quarter, continuing the ninth straight quarterly
gain, according to the report. The increase rate was below market expectation of
an annualized 2.7 percent rise or a 0.7 percent quarterly
increase.
Government officials and economists held that the GDP data
reflected the continuing recovery of Japanese economy despite a decrease of a
real 0.9 percent in capital spending in the reporting quarter.
Hiroko Ota,
the economic minister said that it was still "too early to say the trend has
changed." She noted that the Bank of Japan's Tankan quarterly business
confidence survey shows that the capital spending plans by major companies
remain firm for the current fiscal year.
For fiscal 2006, the nation's
economy expanded 1.3 percent in nominal terms, up for the fourth straight year,
the report noted.
Consumer spending, which accounts for about 55 percent of
Japan's GDP, increased a real 0.9 percent in the January-March period. Exports
rose a real 3.3 percent, while imports was up a real 0.9 percent, the report
said.
Xinhua
|
