UK left trailing by resurgent Japan’s growth

THE UK was left in the slipstream of another major economy on Monday as Japanese shoppers found their mojo and growth leapt between April and June.

Official figures for the world’s third-biggest economy showed the export powerhouse growing at an annualised pace of 4%, equivalent to quarterly growth of 1%, more than three times as fast as the UK’s 0.3% advance over the same period.

Japan has been struggling against headwinds including high debts, persistent deflation pressures and an ageing population, prompting “shock and awe” stimulus tactics from the Bank of Japan in 2013 and a big government spending and reform programme.

But the latest growth, driven by consumer spending and investment, marked six successive quarters of growth for the first time in more than a decade.

Rob Carnell, Asian economist at ING Bank, said the growth performance “makes Japan the fastest-growing economy in the G7 this quarter by our reckoning”.

He added that the economic strength “may restart the chatter” about the BoJ winding down its stimulus programme, which has seen the central bank gobble up nearly half of the country’s bonds.