TOKYO, Sept 8 — Japan’s economy grew faster than the initially estimated in the April-June quarter, helped by solid capital expenditure, although a resurgence in Covid-19 is undermining service-sector consumption and clouding the outlook.
The upward revision was caused by better-than-initially-estimated business spending, as a brisk global economic recovery powered capital expenditure and factory output, which more than offset weak service-sector activity. However, global chip shortages may put a drag on Japanese car production and shipments while signs of China’s economic slowdown emerge as sources of concern.
The capital expenditure component of GDP grew 2.3 per cent in the second quarter from January-March, bigger than the median forecast for 2.0 per cent growth and the preliminary 1.7 per cent gain.