Japan's economy unlikely to achieve growth in FY 2009: official
18/11/2008 17:56
Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Kaoru Yosano said today that he is
"not confident" Japan's economy will achieve growth in fiscal year (FY) 2009
starting April next year.
"Looking at conditions at home and abroad, I see
few factors that will contribute to positive growth," Yosano told
reporters.
If the negative growth projection for fiscal 2009 is formally
adopted by the cabinet in January, it will be the first time that the Japanese
government has produced a contraction forecast for a fiscal year.
Yesterday
Yosano said that Japan's economy sank into its first recession in seven years in
the July-September quarter as the world's second largest economy has witnessed
economic contractions in two quarters in a row.
Japan's gross domestic
product (GDP), or the total value of the nation's goods and services, shrank for
a second consecutive quarter in the third quarter of 2008, down by an annualized
0.4 percent in real terms, following an annualized 3.7 percent contraction in
the second quarter, according to a preliminary report released by the cabinet
office earlier yesterday.
Xinhua
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