Tokyo — Japan’s economy just grew by $278bn — about the size of SA’s entire GDP — thanks to an accounting change (and some better data). This massive burst of statistical growth came about via the government’s adoption of a new base year and incorporation of international accounting standards, such as adding research and development spending to capital expenditure figures. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed last September to raise nominal GDP by nearly a quarter to ¥600-trillion by 2020 to show voters he was focusing on reviving the economy ahead of an upper house election in July 2016. Revised data out on Thursday showed nominal GDP reached ¥532.2-trillion ($4.7-trillion) in the fiscal year ending in March 2016 — getting remarkably close to Abe’s goal of ¥600-trillion. The size of the economy had rebounded to its levels before the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008 and was just shy of a record hit in fiscal 1997, the Cabinet Office data showed. Stronger than expected private consumpt...
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