Japan's GDP expected to recover to pre-pandemic level by end of FY 2021

Tokyo [Japan], August 25 (ANI/Sputnik): Japan's economic growth is expected to return to the pre-pandemic levels by the end of fiscal year 2021, which starts on April 1 of the next year and ends on March 31, 2022, Yasutoshi Nishimura, the Japanese economic revitalisation minister, said on Tuesday.
The digitalisation of various business areas and creation of new business models are said to be the key drivers for the GDP growth.
"If we pull it off, we will enter into the orbit of growth," Kyodo news agency quoted Yasutoshi as saying.
The Japanese economy was hit unprecedentedly by the restrictive measures taken to contain the spread of COVID-19. From April to June 2020, when restrictions on people-to-people contacts were in effect in Japan and affected business activity, real GDP fell by 7.8 per cent compared to the previous quarter taking into account seasonal fluctuations, and in annual figures, the decline was estimated at 27.8 per cent.
Yasutoshi, who also serves as a minister responding to COVID-19 pandemic, believes that following the lifting of the state of emergency, the economy "has shown mostly strong tendencies toward recovery." (ANI/Sputnik)