Japan’s economy growing by more than 21% in Q3

Japan’s economy grew at its fastest pace ever in Q3 of the year, rebounding strongly after the biggest downturn of the post-war era, as improved exports and consumption helped overcome the damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

However, analysts described the exceptionally strong recovery after the previous severe recession and warned that any further recovery of the economy will be modest, as the growth of infections in Japan and abroad casts a shadow.

Government data showed that the world’s third-largest economy grew 21.4% year-on-year in the quarter from July to September, beating the average market forecast of 18.6% and marking the first growth in four quarters.

This is the largest increase since comparative data became available in 1980 and comes after a 28.8% drop in the second quarter, when consumption was hit by measures to prevent the spread of the virus.

The data also showed that external demand contributed 2.9 percentage points to GDP growth, with exports increasing 7%.