East Asia Japan is no longer the world’s third-largest economy as it slips into recession

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Source : https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/15/japan-loses-spot-as-worlds-third-largest-economy-to-germany.html

Japan has lost its spot as the world’s third-largest economy to Germany, as the Asian giant unexpectedly slipped into recession.
Once the second-largest economy in the world, Japan reported two consecutive quarters of contraction on Thursday — falling 0.4% on an annualized basis in the fourth quarter after a revised 3.3% contraction in the third quarter. Fourth-quarter GDP sharply missed forecasts for 1.4% growth in a Reuters poll of economists. A recession is broadly defined as two consecutive quarters of contraction.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, GDP slipped 0.1%, compared with a 0.3% rise expected in the Reuters poll.
For 2023, Japan’s nominal GDP grew 5.7% to reach 591.48 trillion yen, or $4.2 trillion, based on the average exchange rate that year, official data showed. On the other hand, Germany saw its nominal GDP grow 6.3% to reach 4.12 trillion euros, or $4.46 trillion, based on last year’s average exchange rate.
Nominal GDP measures the output value in current dollars without adjusting for inflation.
In response to the latest GDP release, the benchmark Nikkei 225 climbed 0.65% and briefly surpassed the 38,000 mark in the morning session, as investors saw the weak economic reading as a sign the Bank of Japan could delay its exit from the country’s long-standing hostile interest rate policy.