Ashton Whiteley: Japan Government Reports Economic Recovery

    SHANGHAI, CHINA, February 23, 2018 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The Japanese government's unchanged assessment that the economy is slowly recovering has led Ashton Whiteley economists to suggest that a recent run of growth will probably continue thanks to an increase in consumer demand.

In its monthly economic report published earlier this week, the Cabinet Office said that Japan's economy is gradually recovering. This view echoed its January report in which it upgraded its forecast for the first time in seven months.

Ashton Whiteley economists say domestic spending is recovering and that spending on home electronics and eating out remains solid.

Japan's economy has expanded for eight consecutive quarters, the longest run of expansion since the economic bubble burst in 1989.

Ashton Whiteley economists say this period of growth increases the chance that the government will be in a position to put an end to years of persistent deflation. This would be a solid victory for Shinzo Abe's plan to reinvigorate the world's 3rd biggest economy.

In the monthly economic report, the Cabinet Office upheld its earlier assessment that industrial productivity and capital expenditure are gradually recovering and that the job market is steadily improving.

Ashton Whiteley economists say Japan's labor demand is at its strongest in more than 40 years, largely thanks to Shinzo Abe's Abenomics but they added that the improved labor market has not hastened the move away from deflation.

Shinzo Abe came into power towards the end 2012 with a drastic strategy to reverse more than a decade of deflation and minimal growth.

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