Japan's government raises its GDP growth estimates for FY2023/24 and FY2024/25

<p>Japan's Cabinet Office revised the estimates in its twice-yearly economic outlook published today, Thursday, 21 December.</p><ul><li>real economic growth rate for fiscal 2023/24 is estimated at 1.6%, up from 1.3% seen half a year ago</li><li>fiscal 2024/25 economic growth projection was bumped up to 1.3%, slightly higher than the previous estimate of 1.2%</li></ul><p>The Office cites:</p><ul><li>external demand is likely to more than offset weak domestic consumption</li><li>domestic demand is expected to rebound in the next fiscal
year with the help of planned income tax cuts on top of the
ongoing trend of wage hikes (more on this here: <a href="https://www.forexlive.com/centralbank/japanese-incomes-projected-to-increase-by-38-in-fiscal-2024-surpassing-inflation-20231220/" target="_blank" rel="follow" data-article-link="true">Japanese incomes projected to increase by 3.8% in fiscal 2024, surpassing inflation</a>)</li></ul><p>Consumer prices are forecast to rise 3.0% this
fiscal year says the report, citing the growing ability of
firms to pass on cost rises to customers.</p><ul><li>inflation seen slowing down to 2.5% for the next
fiscal year</li></ul>

This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at www.forexlive.com.