Japan's Nov retail sales rise for second month

[TOKYO] Japan's retail sales rose faster than expected in November, thanks to decreasing Covid-19 cases, which have encouraged shoppers to ramp up spending on goods and services.

To boost support the economy, the government on Friday approved a record US$940 billion budget for fiscal 2022, a week after the Bank of Japan's decision to keep the ultra-loose monetary policy.

Retail sales gained 1.9 per cent in November from a year earlier, government data showed on Monday, versus economists' median forecast for a 1.7 per cent gain.

It followed a 0.9 per cent advance in October, which had marked the first rise in three months.

Compared with the previous month, retail sales increased 1.2 per cent in November on a seasonally adjusted basis, after a downwardly revised 1.0 per cent rise in October.

Nationwide daily Covid-19 cases in Japan continued falling through November to fewer than one per million people earlier this month.

The government lifted curbs in September and has not reinstated them, except for strict border controls to stop the spread of the new Omicron variant.

The world's third-largest economy is set to rebound by an annualised 6.1 per cent in the current quarter from a 3.6 per cent slump in July-September, according to the latest Reuters poll of economists.

REUTERS