Economic history of Japan

Japan's economy has unexpectedly contracted, leading the country to slip from its position as the world's third-largest economy to the fourth spot, now behind Germany.

Japan has slipped to the world's fourth-largest economy, as government data released Thursday showed it fell behind Germany's in 2023.

The numbers highlight how the Japanese economy has gradually lost its competitiveness and productivity while the population shrinks as Japanese people age and have fewer children, analysts say.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced a stimulus package worth more than $100 billion yesterday as he tries to ease the squeeze from inflation and rescue his premiership with his poll ratings at a record low.

Japan suffered a trade deficit last month as exports sank for the first time in more than two years, dragged down by a slowdown overseas.

Japan's trade deficit totaled 78.7 billion yen ($539 million), the Finance Ministry said yesterday, the first trade deficit for the world's third largest economy in two months.

Turkey's economy ran a current account deficit of $1.8 billion in January, below the median of analysts' forecasts, the Turkish Central Bank revealed on March 11.

The gap widened $1.5 billion compared to the same month of last year, bringing the 12-month rolling surplus to $6.5 billion, the bank said in a statement.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has warned Greece that it needs to stick to agreed reforms and fiscal targets if it wants to maintain current growth rates.

"Deviations from the current medium-term fiscal strategy would undermine gains in fiscal credibility," the OECD warned in its latest Economic Outlook report.

The International Monetary Fund warned Arab states on May 2 against complacency over a looming debt crisis, urging continued economic reforms despite a rise in oil prices.

Thanks to the continued fiscal adjustment, Serbia is now running a significant fiscal surplus, the World Bank has said it a new report.

However, said the October 2017 Europe and Central Asia Economic Update Report, growth is slowing down in 2017, mainly due to unfavorable weather conditions - severe winter and a long drought - and a slowdown in investment.

Japan's economy grew 1 percent in the April-June period, notching up its sixth straight quarter of growth and its longest economic expansion in over a decade, government data showed on Aug. 14.

Japan reported on Jan 24 its first annual trade surplus since the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster sent the country's energy import bills soaring.

The government trade data showed imports in 2016 fell nearly 16 percent, mainly due to the falling cost of crude oil and liquefied natural gas.