Japan Remains World’s Second Largest Economy

It had been widely expected that China would overtake Japan to be the world’s second largest economy after the United States, but figures just released have shown that Japan has held on to the number two spot, at least for the time being.

In a stronger than expected finish to 2009, Japan produced growth figures of 1.1% for Q4 which equates to an annualised figure of 4.6%. In comparison, the Chinese economy returned growth figures of 8.7% for 2009.

The Japanese figures equate to an approximate value of $5.1tn for the economy in 2009 whilst the Chinese numbers come in at $4.9tn.

The Japanese economy is export driven and China recently eclipsed the USA as Japan’s major trading partner.