Japan catching up

Manufacturing News, Source : TheManufacturer.com
Published : 14 Nov 2002 14:50

Continental Europe’s 18 months of economic supremacy over one of its main rivals, Japan, has come to an end, says the latest bulletin from the Centre for Business and Economic Research.

The Japanese economy has recently been showing distinct signs of life with indications that it may be more than another false dawn. Cebr's Monthly Economic Bulletin for November looks at the quiet improvement in Japan in recent months. Figures last week showed that GDP grew by 0.2%, 1% and 0.7% in the first, second and third quarters of 2002. These were much better than the markets had expected and, indeed, the numbers for the first and second quarters were revised up substantially from provisional estimates. By comparison, the euro zone has managed GDP growth of 0.4%, 0.4% and a forecast 0.2% over the same quarters.

Japanese industrial production was up 5.2% in the year to September, and electrical power consumption - a good indicator of manufacturing activity - was 2.9% higher in September compared to a year earlier.

Comments on this story

click here to add a comment