Is the Japanese economy performing better (much better!) than official statistics indicate?
A new analysis from economists at the Bank of Japan suggest that contrary to official stats saying the economy contracted after the sales-tax hike hurt consumer spending in 2014, GDP actually grew 2.4%!
- The Cabinet Office calculates the official GDP statistics based on expenditure
- The new estimate from the BOJ uses income data
- The two should match, but the BOJ report estimates Japan's economy was 29.5 trillion yen ($291 billion) bigger in 2014 than the official data show
Bloomberg have more at their article here
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The BOJ already have their own CPI data, which they publish on the same day as the official data. It shows a higher CPI than official data, but still falls well short of the 2% target.
