Japan Economy Marks 2nd-Longest Postwar Growth

December 13, 2018

Tokyo--Japan's Cabinet Office recognized Thursday that the country's current economic expansion entered its 58th month in September last year, marking the second-longest boom in the postwar history.

The uptrend thus topped the "Izanagi" rapid growth period that lasted 57 months, from November 1965 to July 1970, Rissho University Prof. Hiroshi Yoshikawa, who chairs a research conference at the Cabinet Office tasked with determining the peak and the trough of a Japanese economic cycle retrospectively, told a press conference.

The research conference examined production, consumption and other economic data to officially recognize that the current economic expansion, which began in December 2012, continued at least through September 2017.

If the economy keeps growing until January 2019, the expansion would become the longest postwar growth by exceeding the 73-month boom between February 2002 and February 2008.

The administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, launched in December 2012, has been promoting Abenomics, the prime minister's economic policy mix featuring bold monetary easing.

Stock prices went up thanks to brisk exports backed by overseas economic growth and the yen's weakening. The employment situations also improved. At the same time, observers say many Japanese have been unable to feel the impact of economic recovery, with wages and consumer spending lacking strength. Jiji Press