Japan revises economic data to show bigger contraction

TOKYO

Japan’s economy contracted at an annual pace of 2.3 percenr in the July-September period, the government reported Monday, as exports suffered from the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and public investments slipped.

The decline in Japan’s gross domestic product translates to a 0.6 percent on-quarter fall, and marked a lowered revision from the preliminary data released last month, which had shown a drop of 1.8 percent at an annual rate, or 0.4 percent on-quarter, according to the Cabinet Office.

The annualized rate shows what the economy would have done if the same rate were to continue for a year.

Exports dropped 1.2 percent in the quarter compared to the previous quarter, unchanged from the preliminary figure, while private residential investment fell 8.2 percent, slightly less than the 9.4 percent fall seen in the earlier data.

Trump implemented higher tariffs on imports from many countries earlier this year.

Analysts say the drop in private residential investment observed in the July-September quarter was mainly due to revisions of Japan’s building code that caused housing starts to plunge from earlier this year.

Private consumption gained 0.2 percent, according to revised data.

Japan now has its first female prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, who remains popular, partly because of her assertive nationalist-leaning comments. She is also fostering hopes for an economic revival, although prospects remain unclear.