The British Pandemic Continues to be Under Control / Japan’s Fourth Quarter GDP Growth Rate is Lower than the Initial Value

The British Pandemic Continues to be Under Control

The British government announced that as of Monday (8th), the number of newly diagnosed new coronaviruses in the area continued to fall to 4,712, the first time since September last year that there were fewer than 5,000. In addition, local vaccination is also accelerating. According to government figures, more than 22 million people, or about one-third of the population, have received at least the first dose of vaccine. The United Kingdom has implemented the first phase of unblocking this week, that is, nearly a million schoolchildren and young people in England can return to school to resume classes. The British epidemic continues to be under control, and the market is growing hopes that the local economy is expected to recover quickly from the biggest recession in 300 years.

Japan’s Fourth Quarter GDP Growth Rate is Lower than the Initial Value

Japan announced that the final GDP growth in the fourth quarter of last year was revised down to 11.7%, which was lower than the initial value of 12.7, but it was the second consecutive quarter of double-digit growth. However, Japan’s household spending in January unexpectedly fell by 6.1% year-on-year, which was greater than the market’s expected drop of 2.1%. The previous value fell by 0.6%. This is reflected in the epidemic restriction measures, which are seriously damaging public consumer desire. Last week, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga extended the state of emergency in the Tokyo area until March 21, causing the market to worry that the local economy in the first quarter may slow down significantly due to the lack of domestic demand support.