Japan in recession
Japan's money economy contracted sharply after the earthquake on 11 March, contracting at 0.9% in Q1, or an annualised rate of 3.7%. Expectations, for what they are worth (which is nothing), were for a contraction of 1.9%. This is an error of 100%. ZeroHedge reports that the contraction is nominal terms was 5.2% - in one quarter!
The Japanese economy is now in recession, after Q4 2010 showed GDP contraction.
Bear in mind that the Q1 figure only includes 20 days (out of say 90) after the earthquake. So the effect on their economy is large. The outlook for Q2, the present quarter, is not good.
The knock-on effect in west and elsewhere seems to be ignored largely by economists and journalists in the MSM. There seems to be every chance that the UK economy will print a contraction for Q2 ending June.
UPDATE: 25 May - the OECD have woken up. They have revised their forecast for Japan's economy from growth of 0.8% to contraction of 0.9%, a swing of 100% in the other direction. They are clever and have noticed the earthquake and cite the "extensive loss of output from the March 11 disaster".
The Japanese economy is now in recession, after Q4 2010 showed GDP contraction.
Bear in mind that the Q1 figure only includes 20 days (out of say 90) after the earthquake. So the effect on their economy is large. The outlook for Q2, the present quarter, is not good.
The knock-on effect in west and elsewhere seems to be ignored largely by economists and journalists in the MSM. There seems to be every chance that the UK economy will print a contraction for Q2 ending June.
UPDATE: 25 May - the OECD have woken up. They have revised their forecast for Japan's economy from growth of 0.8% to contraction of 0.9%, a swing of 100% in the other direction. They are clever and have noticed the earthquake and cite the "extensive loss of output from the March 11 disaster".
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