Japanese Capital Spending Source of Q1 Upward Revision

Japan’s economy grew an annualized 6.7 percent in the first quarter, data showed on Monday, up sharply from an initial reading of a 5.9 percent rise, and confirmed the fastest pace of growth since July-September 2011. The data beat the median market forecast for GDP to rise 5.6 percent.

The upward revision was largely due to a recalculation in capital expenditure that took into account finance ministry data showing a solid increase in spending.

Adding to the optimism, current account data showed foreign visitors spent more money than Japanese traveling abroad for the first time in 44 years, boding well for Japanese companies in the retail and tourism industry.

In other encouraging news, Japanese consumer confidence rose for the first time in six months in May, further underscoring recent signs that the economic pain from the sales tax hike would be temporary. The service-sector sentiment index also edged up.

The tax, which was raised to 8 percent from 5 percent on April 1 to fix Japan’s tattered finances, has caused distortions in data and raised worries about the outlook.

Monday’s positive figures, however, back the Bank of Japan’s view the economy will recover moderately led by domestic demand, with growing evidence of an uptick in business investment a particularly pleasing result for policy makers.

via Reuters

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