2.6 JAPAN

Japan’s economy in the first half of 2020 was plunged into severe conditions by the pandemic. It registered a 28.8% drop in the April-to-June quarter, and this was the sharpest decline since the postwar period. In the second half of the year, however, it began to rally gradually. Helped by government backing through measures such as the ‘Go To Travel and Go To Eat Campaign’, and by taking preventive measures against the pandemic, economic activity resumed. According to the Cabinet Office, Government of Japan, the preliminary value of the GDP in the July-to-September quarter of 2020, (the seasonally adjusted figure factoring in the impact of price fluctuations) recorded a high 5% rise from the April-to-June quarter, a 21.4% rise in annual terms. Although this was a reactional jump from the 28.8% drop in the April-to-June quarter, positive-growth occurred after the July-to-September quarter. However, the real GDP growth rate in 2020 is predicted to indicate a drop somewhere around the level of 5% compared with 2019.