Japan's economy expands for 2nd straight quarter

Just the other day on JT there was an article of delaying the tax further due to bad economic output here. Now it's suddenly and magically back to the 80s boom by the wording? Honesty goes a long way..

Japan's economy has recorded moderate growth under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Abenomics anti-deflation programs but contracted some recent periods because of natural disasters.

Moderate growth my butt! Any economic growth is thanks to the free spending done by the Abe government to prop it up and nothing due to any sustainable growth.

Government spending is the only reason the economy has been growing in reality. Dont blame any contraction on the natural disasters either. While the economy may take a jolt on occasion because of them afterwards their is a minor windfall from the reconstruction that follows.

Not to mention that there hasnt been any natural disasters over the course of the first quarter of this year!

Ha, they have got to be kidding? Gearing up or an election and feeding the masses the same crap, economic outlook great, foreign workers shhhhh. See Abenomics has given you massive debt, increased the overtime limit, actively stymied full employment and now are knee shacking about a tax incress. Knowing full well that 60% of workers are employed under illegal circumstances. Yep they could tell people to jump off a cliff they would do it and still vote LDP.

Japanese controlled media has never fiddled with economic statistics. Why are people so negative ? They (foreigners) can’t even vote.

@always. Hiring sick 80 year old staff is great for the economy. Zero unemployment. I just watched an old man stealing? coins from the temple near my office. His shoes look old.

Purely lie, big lie, unforgivable lie to say that Abe did a good job. Does anyone even know how GDP is calculated ?

Japanese economy expanded ? What a joke ! Import down, export down, investment down, consumption down. The only up is govt purchases, we all know that.

Growth, annualised at 2.1% is welcome.

But half picture, domestic consumption which accounts for the bulk of Japan economy fell by 0.1% quarterly.

Fiscally, 2018 expansion presented just 0.6%. Exports are weak. Questions remains around government policy, the mixed messages on whether the pledge to raise the consumption tax to 10 percent will go ahead as planned.

Cabinet Office Report........ Monthly Economic Report Executive Summary ( Apr 2019 )

https://www5.cao.go.jp/keizai3/getsurei-e/2019apr.html

Superb news, but not surprising. Thanks you PM Abe, thank you Finance Minister Aso.

All the countries within the G7 are growing in different degrees,and these numbers certainly are posted judging only the local situation without looking at the grand scale.

Some posters here should stop glorifying everything it's country and government does.

To love your fatherland you also try to have a more objective point of view and try to improve the things that are not working not just pontifical every single actions.

Absolute bull.

How many more quarters of results are due before the next elections? It’s so obvious it’s comical.

Japanese workers need more vacation time (minimum 3 weeks a year at the time of their choosing) and fewer bank holidays. People spend when they are on vacation.

Japan's economy expands for 2nd straight quarter

I call bs on that statement.

Japanese controlled media has never fiddled with economic statistics. Why are people so negative ? They (foreigners) can’t even vote.

I can, and do, and your comment here is off the mark. The statistics come from the government and it does have a history of "fiddling" with statistics!

One day the trade surplus shrinks, the economy is threatened by the US-China trade war, and the government hints at delaying once again the consumption tax hike, and now this?

Prime example of the right hand having no idea the left hand is jerking everyone off!

Ganbare Japan!: Superb news, but not surprising. Thanks you PM Abe, thank you Finance Minister Aso.

I knew it! That this comment will surely appear for news like this

Just the other day on JT there was an article of delaying the tax further due to bad economic output here. Now it's suddenly and magically back to the 80s boom by the wording? Honesty goes a long way..

The economy is partly a state of mind.

Well, we can't have Heisei end on a sour note.

Yes!

The news is so amazing that my boss has raised wages all round and given everyone a big bonus!

(Disclaimer:the above statement is based on fiction and does not constitute reality in May 2019)

Watch out China. That number 2 spot is looking mighty precarious.

Watch out China. That number 2 spot is looking mighty precarious.

Brilliantly argued, Dark Nuts. With the PRC economy in free fall and Japan booming under Abenomics, Japan will be Number 2 within 5-7 years, probably.

Nope, no true growth, only “grew” because imports dropped more than exports. Imports slid 4.6% - the biggest fall in a decade, while exports dropped more than a 2.4%. Massaged “stats” and massaged bottom line for these err “facts”.

"Gross domestic product expanded an annualized 2.1%, but the biggest driver was imports falling even faster than exports, which meant that net exports technically fueled growth in the economy. Declining imports is a sign of weakness in demand, so the GDP figure is somewhat misleading."

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-19/japan-s-economy-grows-in-first-quarter-despite-global-headwinds

If this is anywhere near true than Japan would be the world's number one economy if they didn't raise the tax to 8 percent.

(Protip: it's not)1

Abe asking for unconditional talks (in front of the media, of course, and the victims of abduction) with NK, and now this... election much? I guess the LDP didn't learn from the shellacking last month.

Yeah, all the companies and consumers were spending at the start of the new fiscal year before receiving their tax returns. The spending in December was the end of the fiscal year. Gotta soak up the lime light while it’s on.

Japan is on roll! GNP at 2.1% Employment at 98%. Japan is the Golden State Warriors and PM Abe is Stephen Curry. A man among boys.

The people on here lapping up this obvious falsification are the most curious to me. This is something that has been done over and over again by the Abe regime everyone there's an election around the corner. The fact that you fall for it this much is baffling.

Q1: 0.5% growth.

Official communication: 2.1% growth annualised!

If this is not PR, what?

Dont worry Japan. Trump will make sure your growth will be blunted!

Just like America did in the 80s to Japan. Do you remember?

The official statistics are only correct if they fit your worldview, right, folks?

Brilliantly argued, Dark Nuts. With the PRC economy in free fall and Japan booming under Abenomics, Japan will be Number 2 within 5-7 years, probably.

How can anyone in their right mind say this with a straight face? Oh right...my bad.

The official statistics are only correct if they fit your worldview, right, folks?

Not at all, and personally speaking here, the government all too many times puts out statistics like this to boost the "morale" of the people more than anything else. Keep the "image" up, Yet if the economy is doing so great, why haven't "we" regular folks felt it? Why do we "regular" folks have to pinch to make ends meet? Why hasn't our pay gone up, in relationship to the "booming" economy as some posters here claim? Why is the future not so bright, with ever rising costs and the government's buying our future in debt?

It aint my "world" view, it's my internal view of Japan, from living and working here well over 3 decades, and seeing basically the same amount, with a few years of exceptions, in my paycheck that I got when I first got here!

Learn to read between the lines, and also keep in mind all the other "official statistics" the government puts out, you may learn something you dont want to know!

I saw a pack of 4 tomatoes today, priced at 25 yen each-cheaper than Sicily!