A foreshadow to the BOJ meeting tomorrow perhaps?
- FY 2019 real GDP growth estimate lowered from 1.3% to 0.9%
- FY 2020 real GDP growth estimate of 1.2%
- FY 2019 consumer inflation estimate of 0.7%
- FY 2020 consumer inflation estimate of 0.8%
The government cites weaker exports i.e. weakening global demand as the main reason for the downgrade and says that the impact from the planned sales tax hike in October may also further weigh on growth in the current fiscal year.
They estimate export growth to be at +0.5% now compared to the +3.0% assessment back in January. That would mark the weakest growth in exports since fiscal year 2012.