Japan's slowdown in Q2 signals lack of confidence in Abenomics: analysts

Tokyo

JAPAN'S economic growth came almost to a halt in the second quarter of this year compared to the first quarter and while such comparisons often produce wide variations in gross domestic product (GDP), the underlying trends in the latest data raised new doubts about the success of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Abenomics policies.

Hit by stagnant domestic demand and weak exports, the world's third-largest economy grew by just 0.2 per cent on an annualised basis during the April-June period, the Cabinet Office announced on Monday, which was well short of a median market forecast of 0.7 per cent.

The figures suffered by comparison with a strong 2 per cent real growth performance in the first quarter of the year, although that in turn benefited from comparison with very weak figures for the final quarter of 2015. …