It has been a while since I last had Japan under the spotlight where and where I noted that Japan almost certainly would be tumbling into or very close to recession. Since then, data have been pointing only one way really and with the recent downward revision of an already quite awful Q2 GDP reading Japan now seems certain to be flirting with a recession.
As per usual, I will peruse the most recent pile of data but now that Japan stands on the brink of yet another recession in the 21st century, I also think that it also finds itself confronted with a crucial question. What will happen to spending and the political situation in the wake of Fukuda’s resignation? I am no political specialists, but I will try to highlight the issue from an economic view point all the same.
All the Features of a Recession
As if the initial Q2 GDP reading was not tough enough clocking in at -2.4% y-o-y the revised figure released by the cabinet office of -3.0% suggests that Japan’s economy took a significant beating in Q2. On a quarterly basis Japan’s economy thus pulled the rather dubious trick of completely erasing Q1 0.7% growth rate meaning that growth in H01 2008 stands at 0% q-o-q. The corresponding figure for annual values is -0.2%. Given the sharpness of the contraction it should not surprise many that almost all components of GDP were down. Most important perhaps were net exports which failed to make a positive contribution for the first time in three years.
Especially domestic demand and investment weighed heavily on the head line figure and without neither government spending nor, more importantly, exports with net exports contributing -0.1% this is the figure you get. In general, Japan seems to be caught in somewhat of a vicious circle at the moment. With domestic demand congenitally weak and foreign demand now faltering corporate capex seems certain to fall back. Add to this, a decline in terms of trade due to the increase in imported goods prices as well as a fiscally strained government and you end up with a busted ship as they say in the sci-fi shows.
If we turn our attention to prices it seems that Japan got that last spurt of headline inflation pressure in July with all three indices posting positive rates.
The general inflation index rose 2.3% from a year earlier, but more importantly the US style core-of-core index managed to eek out a full 0.2% print. This brings the average, for this index in 2008, to 0% y-o-y. It is the first time since August 1997 that the core-of-core index posts such a gain. Clearly, and since the increase in inflation comes at a time when the economy is actually shrinking to the tune noted above, this is all about cost push inflation. The deterioration in Japan’s terms of trade represents an important underlying current here since Japan, for the most part, imports energy and food related produces. In so far as goes the domestic value chain inflation has only scarcely found its way to the market in terms of the core-of-core index, a point I have emphasized in my analysis before (insert link here).
Given the rather violent setback of global headline inflation so far in H02 2008 and the imminent outlook of oil dropping to negative growth rates y-o-y towards Q4 Japanese consumers should once again find some solace, if only a little bit, at the pumps and in the supermarket as we move towards the end of the year. Of course, this will probably mean that Japan slips back into deflation in the core of core index, but it is important to understand that this seems to be the rule rather than the exception.
A further breakdown of domestic demand shows us that household consumption expenditures have contracted in every month so far in 2008. Even if the rate of contraction seems to be edging in the right direction, it still indicates that Japan has been hit extraordinarily hard by the recent bout of global stagflation.
Japanese consumers once again cut back on fuel and food expenditures while spikes in expenditures on furniture and clothing kept the index from plummeting completely. A worrying trend in the context of domestic consumer demand is furthermore that household income and wages have almost fallen off a cliff in recent months. Total cash earnings fell back 2.5% in July and household income was down 3.5% on the year. In light of this, it is difficult to expect the Japanese consumer to be able to muster that much debated second bulwark against recession once foreign demand trends down.
As for corporate sector the overall headline news was actually a rare bright spot as industrial production climbed 0.9% in July from June where it fell 2.2%. While certainly down on an annual basis, industrial production still seems to be increasing at levels higher than those seen throughout 2006 and H01 2007. The news from the small services on the ground, in the form of Japanese small merchants, consequently point towards a further deterioration.
