Japan Revises GDP Lower in Q4

Japan’s economy grew less than previously thought in the fourth quarter of 2014 but still crawled out of recession, revised figures showed on Monday.

Gross domestic product grew an annualized 1.5 percent in the October-December period, down from an initial reading of 2.2 percent in February and below expectations of 2.2 percent.

Quarter on quarter, growth was revised to 0.4 percent, down from a preliminary reading of 0.6 percent and below expectations for the same.

“[The revised growth figures are] underwhelming at best. The reality is that the Japanese have not been able to lift inflationary expectations at any degree and they will be held victim to declining commodity prices, which will determine where inflation goes long-term,” said Paul Krake, founder of View from the Peak: Macro Strategies.

“For me, both the Bank of Japan and the Abe administration have lost control of policy, while corporate Japan has done a fantastic job of reforming itself, from a policy standpoint, they are not doing well,” he said.

Japan’s economy slipped into technical recession in the third quarter of 2014 after shrinking 1.9 percent and following a revised 7.1 percent contraction in the second quarter.

via CNBC

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