Japan’s Economy Showing Signs of Weakness

Japan’s economy has shown signs of stagnation and some weakness as households spent less and factory output stayed flat in July.

Official data released on Friday also showed consumer inflation stayed unmoved at 3.3% from the month before.  Japan raised its sales tax from 5% to 8% in April so analysts said “real” inflation for July was actually 1.3%.

Japan’s economy, which is the world’s third-largest, suffered from deflation for almost two decades.  The central bank’s current target for the inflation rate is 2%.

BBC