Japan’s gross domestic product advanced a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent on quarter in the fourth quarter of 2017, the Cabinet Office said in Thursday’s revision.
That exceeded expectations for an increase of 0.2 percent after last month’s preliminary reading suggested a gain of 0.1 percent.
On a yearly basis, GDP was pushed up to 1.6 percent – again topping forecasts for 1.0 percent and up from 0.5 percent in the preliminary reading.
In the third quarter, GDP expanded 0.6 percent on quarter and 2.2 percent on year.
Nominal GDP was moved up to 0.3 percent on quarter, beating forecasts for 0.1 percent after showing no change in the preliminary report. It advanced 0.6 percent in Q3.
The GDP deflator was revised up to 0.1 percent versus expectations for a flat reading – which would have matched the preliminary report following the 0.2 percent gain in the third quarter.
Private consumption was unrevised at 0.5 percent on quarter, in line with expectations following the 0.6 percent decline in the previous three months.
Business spending was revised up to 1.0 percent on quarter from 0.7 percent, although that was shy of expectations for 1.3 percent. It was also up 1.0 percent in Q3.
The Japanese economy has now expanded in eight straight quarters, the first such streak in more than three years.
Also on Thursday:
• The Bank of Japan said that the value of overall bank lending in Japan was up 2.1 percent on year in February, coming in at 521.735 trillion yen. That follows the downwardly revised 2.3 percent increase in January (originally 2.4 percent).
Excluding trusts, bank lending again was up an annual 2.1 percent to 453.679 trillion yen – slowing from the 2.3 percent gain in the previous month.
Lending from trusts climbed 2.5 percent on year to 68.055 trillion yen, while loans from foreign banks spiked an annual 16.7 percent to 2.459 trillion yen.
• The Ministry of Finance said that Japan had a current account surplus of 607.4 billion yen in January. That exceeded forecasts for a surplus of 437.4 billion yen following the 797.2 billion yen surplus in December.
The trade balance reflected a deficit of 666.6 billion yen versus expectations for a shortfall of 691.0 billion yen following the 538.9 billion yen surplus in the previous month.
Exports were up 12.7 percent on year to 6.226 trillion yen, while imports advanced an annual 8.1 percent to 6.893 trillion yen.
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