Japan first quarter growth revised up to 0.6pc

TOKYO: Japan's economy grew slightly faster than initially thought in the first quarter of this year, due partly to better-than-expected corporate investment, official figures showed Monday.

The world's third-biggest economy grew 0.6 percent quarter-on-quarter, up from the preliminary figure of 0.5 percent, the cabinet office said.

The latest data was being closely watched amid speculation Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government could postpone a planned sales tax hike for the third time if the data was very weak.

A report on Sunday however said Abe's government is now expected to hike the tax to 10 percent from eight percent in October, as scheduled, with the ruling party expecting a landslide victory in an upper house election planned next month.

It was the second successive expansion for the Japanese economy after growth of 0.5 percent in the fourth quarter of last year and defied gloomy expectations by analysts who predicted a small decline at the start of 2019.

As in the preliminary data, net exports contributed strongly to the latest growth figures but only because the fall in imports outweighed a decline in exports, the cabinet office said.

Corporate investment was slightly stronger than estimated in the preliminary data, it said.

The latest indication of Japan's economic health comes amid uncertainty over the global economy, including US-led trade tensions, Brexit and other factors.

The world's top financial policymakers admitted Sunday that trade tensions had worsened and posed a risk for the global economy, after a G20 meeting that laid bare differences between the United States and other nations.

Following 30 hours of wrangling in what one official described as a "tense" atmosphere, G20 finance minister and central bank chiefs produced a hard-fought final statement acknowledging that "growth remains low and risks remain tilted to the downside."

"Most importantly, trade and geopolitical tensions have intensified," the G20 said, adding they "stood ready to take further action" if required.