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Consumer confidence in Japan rose to the highest since 2007
Consumer confidence in Japan rose to the highest in more than two years in March, giving signs that recovery in the world’s second largest economy is getting stronger. Today’s report is signaling recovery in households spending that account for more than half of the Japanese GDP, after exports show improvements since the second half of last year.
Consumer confidence in Japan rose to 41.0 in March compared with 40.0 in February, while consumer confidence household climbed to 40.9 from 39.8.
Confidence among households rose to the highest since October 2007, alongside increasing exports that is driving the nation’s recovery from the worst recession since the great depression. Deteriorations in the labor market eased, as unemployment rate settled at 4.9% the lowest since March 2009, especially that companies are hiring more workers to increase production.
On the other hand, increasing wages helped to boost consumer confidence and encouraged households to increase spending on goods and services, in other words, the interior front is giving more support for Asia’s largest economy that may help it to realize full recovery from recession.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s childcare handouts that will be distributed in June, will support household spending, worth mentioning that the Japanese parliament agreed on a legislation last month to give families a monthly allowance of 13000 yen per child, while Hatoyama said he plans to increase the monthly handouts to 26000 yen next year.
Yet, economic growth in Japan accelerated to 0.9% in the fourth quarter of last year compared with 0.3% in the previous three months. On yearly basis, the economy grew 3.8% in the quarter ended December from 0.0% as exports are recovering alongside advancing global demand.
Published on Mon, Apr 19 2010, 06:15 GMT