TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s economy grew at an annual rate of 21.4% in the last quarter in a recovery from the shocks of the pandemic driven by both private spending and exports.
The world’s third largest economy had logged three straight quarters of contraction and was already in recession by the time the crisis hit. Preliminary data from the Cabinet Office released Monday show a distant road to a full recovery.
News that the economy returned to growth in the July-September quarter sent share prices higher in Tokyo. About an hour after the market opened the Nikkei 225 index was up 1.6%.
Japan, like the rest of the world, is suffering from the slowdown brought on by business closures, plunging tourism and travel and social distancing measures for COVID-19.
On a quarterly basis, the economy grew 5.0%. The annual rate measures how much the growth would have been if that had continued for a year.
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