Japan’s economy clocked another quarter of double-digit growth and finished the pandemic year in better shape than initially expected, signaling potential for a more sure-footed recovery once a damaging state of emergency ends.
Gross domestic product grew an annualized 12.7% from the prior quarter in the three months through December, the Cabinet Office reported Monday. The result was better than 22 of 24 forecasts from surveyed economists and defied a winter surge of the coronavirus.
The fourth-quarter expansion helped the economy survive the pandemic year with a 4.8% contraction, better than forecast by economists and a smaller hit than the 5.7% drop in 2009 following the global financial crisis.
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