Japan’s economy has expanded at a much faster clip than forecast, as a surge in exports more than offset weaker-than-expected results for both business investment and private consumption.
Gross domestic product grew at an annualized pace of 6% in the April to June quarter, marking the strongest growth since the last quarter of 2020, Cabinet Office data showed Tuesday. The figure exceeded economists’ forecast of 2.9% growth. Net exports contributed 1.8 percentage points to the expansion versus consensus estimates of 0.9 point.
Tuesday’s data adds to signs the world’s third largest economy continues to recover from the pandemic slump. The size of the economy grew to a record ¥560.7 trillion ($3.85 trillion), surpassing its pre-pandemic peak. The result was consistent with views at the International Monetary Fund, which recently bumped up its 2023 growth outlook for Japan to 1.4%.