MNI BRIEF: Japan Q4 GDP Revised Lower On Weak Spending

Japan's economy grew at a slower pace than initially estimated in Q4 as private consumption was revised down slightly from its initial estimates, second preliminary GDP data released by the Cabinet Office on Thursday showed.

The economy grew 0.0% q/q, or an annualized 0.1%, compared with the first preliminary estimate of a rise of 0.2% q/q and an annualized gain of 0.6%.

In the revised data, capital investment fell 0.5% q/q, unchanged from the 0.5% fall seen in the preliminary release. The negative contribution from capital investments was unrevised at a 0.1 pp deduction.

Private consumption, which accounts for about 60% of Japan's GDP, was revised down to a rise of 0.3% q/q from an increase of 0.5% q/q, pushing its contribution to overall GDP down to 0.2 pp from 0.3 pp.

The contribution of net exports - exports minus imports - was revised to 0.4 percentage point from 0.3 pp. Private-sector inventories to total domestic output contributed an unrevised at 0.5 pp deduction.

Public investment fell 0.3% q/q, revised up from a fall of 0.5%, but the GDP contribution of public investment was unrevised at -0.0 pp.