Please don't forget to make a donation. We need your help in these difficult times. Donate now.

Japan economy may have bottomed out in late 2012 - government panel


(Reuters) - Japan may have emerged late last year from its shortest economic contraction in roughly 60 years, findings of a government panel showed, as optimism generated by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's reflationary policies led to robust personal consumption.
Some members of a government panel, charged with gauging Japan's economic cycle, though the economy may have hit bottom in November last year judging from trends in the coincident indicators' index, a measurement of current economic conditions.
But the panel decided that more data and evidence would be needed before coming to a conclusion, though GDP data released earlier this month showed the economy expanded 2.6 percent on an annualized basis in the second quarter of this year, slowing from 3.8 percent growth in the first quarter. Read more...