Japan’s Q4 GDP revised down to 1.5% vs. 2.2% estimate
TOKYO—Japan’s economy grew at a slower pace than initial estimates in the October-December quarter, a sign that anemic household spending and business investment after a recession last year are weighing more heavily on the nation’s recovery than previously thought.
While the quarterly expansion shows that Japan has pulled itself out of a tax-induced recession, the weaker revised figure indicates that the economy is still struggling to pick up momentum.
The economy’s inability to quickly bounce back from the tax increase last April could raise fresh questions about the effectiveness of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ’s economic program, known as Abenomics.
Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of goods and services produced in the country, expanded at an annualized 1.5% in the quarter over the preceding three-month period, compared with a preliminary estimate of 2.2% growth.
The quarterly revision also pushed down the annual GDP figure for 2014 to a slight contraction from a tiny expansion, the first annual decline in Japan’s economy in three years.
