Japan's real gross domestic product in the April-June period increased 0.3 percent (or an annualized 1.4 percent) from the previous quarter, the Cabinet Office's preliminary report said on Aug. 13. Although the Japanese economy has grown for four consecutive quarters, clearly it is slowing down.
The annualized 1.4 percent growth is a sharp drop from the corresponding 5.5 percent growth in the previous quarter. Nominal GDP, said to reflect more faithfully how people and businesses feel about economic conditions than real GDP, dropped 0.1 percent or an annualized 0.6 percent from the previous quarter.
Although the government takes the view that the Japanese economy will continue to achieve modest growth, this is too optimistic. The government should waste no time in taking measures to prevent downward risks.