The GDP announced on the 18th will reveal how much domestic consumption and production have taken place and how much the Japanese economy has grown during the three months from January to March.

From the data, it can be seen that during this period, the sixth wave of the new coronavirus issued priority measures such as prevention of spread in many prefectures, and consumption was declining.

Consumption trends based on card spending

This graph is the result of a survey that looks at consumption trends based on credit card usage information.

During this period, the number of infected people per day in Japan exceeded 100,000, and the infection of Omicron strains spread rapidly, and priority measures such as prevention of spread were issued in various places.

For this reason, it can be seen that "service consumption" including transportation, travel, and eating out has dropped significantly from January to February.



"Overall consumption" has been above the level before the spread of infection for four consecutive months since October last year when the infection was relatively calm, but in February it was again dragged by the decline in "service consumption". It was lower than before the spread of the infection.



Let's take a closer look at "service consumption," which affected overall consumption.

trip

The number of Japanese guests staying at hotels and inns in Japan exceeded that before the spread of the infection in December last year, but dropped sharply from January to February.

Eating out

Eating out was divided into light and dark.



Fast food continued to exceed pre-infection levels, capturing demand for home-cooked meals for take-out and home delivery.



On the other hand, sales at pubs and pubs decreased by nearly 70% in February compared to before the spread of the infection due to shortened business hours and restrictions on the provision of alcohol.

How do workers feel about the economy?

However, in March, priority measures such as prevention of spread were lifted, and travel and eating out picked up somewhat, and the realization of the economy of workers improved.



According to the Economy Watchers Survey, which asks more than 2,000 working people about the actual state of the economy, the index showing the current state of the economy in March exceeded the previous month by 10.1 points, improving for the first time in three months.

What is worrisome is ...

The "Consumer Attitude Index," which shows consumers' willingness to shop, was 2.4 points higher than the previous month due to the further rise in prices of energy and food that are familiar to people in March due to the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It was a big deterioration below.



The index in April exceeded March due to the cancellation of priority measures such as prevention of spread, and increased for the first time in half a year, but the rate of increase was only 0.2%, and the Cabinet Office said that there were "weak movements" regarding consumer sentiment. The keynote judgment that "will be done" has been left unchanged.



Economic activity is gradually normalizing, but there is growing concern that the recent depreciation of the yen has spurred soaring raw material prices and that consumer spending, which accounts for more than half of GDP, will cool down again.