The Cabinet Office has announced that Japan's gross domestic product for the April-June period grew 0.1 percent, or an annualized 0.5 percent, in real terms from the previous quarter. This points to slowing economic growth in Japan, although economic activities as a whole continue to expand.
The growth figures are weaker than the 0.8 percent (annualized 3.2 percent) for January-March and the 1.3 percent (annualized 5.4 percent) for October-December 2006. On the positive side, nominal GDP showed a greater growth rate (0.3 percent) than real GDP, reversing the previous quarter's trend. The nominal GDP figure reflects more accurately how economic conditions are felt by consumers and enterprises than the real figure.
In addition, the domestic demand deflator, a key measure of domestic price trends, rose 0.2 percent, reversing the 0.1 percent decrease in the previous quarter and representing the first increase since the July-September 2006 quarter. This means that deflationary pressure has somewhat weakened.