to go above 30,000. japan has just released growth figures. asia s second biggest economy grew 1.6% on annualised rate, much better than what had been predicted. i spoke to neil newman from macquarie capital. we have been closely watching wage growth, the wage number, which hasn t really filtered through into anything visible as yet. the gdp number certainly does indicate there is a large amount of the domestic economy now contributing to this. as you mentioned cap ex, business spending was up 0.9 on the annual basis, way ahead of expectations. but even private consumption was also up, 0.6% against the market consensus of 0.4. even though it appears the wage number we have been looking at, the last numbers were in march, they were not that impressive, in fact they were quite depressing. the next key one will be injune, april s numbers, and that s when we will start to see the increase in overall wages. of course it s notjust the wage number that contributes to all of this, it
second biggest economy grew 1.6% on annualised rate, much better than what had been predicting, thanks to private consumption and an unexpected rise in capital expenditure. let s bring in neil newman from the quarry capital who joins us live from tokyo. thank you for joining us. the data has come out a lot stronger than expected, talk us through what s been doing quite well. this is a very big and positive surprise. we have been closely watching wage growth, the wage number, which hasn t really filtered through into anything visible as yet. the gdp numbers certainly does indicate there is a large amount of the domestic economy contributing to this. as you mentioned cap ex, business spending was up on the annual basis, way ahead of expectations. but even consumption was also up, 0.6% against the market consensus of 0.4. even though it appears the wage number we have been looking at, the last numbers in march, they were not that impressive, in fact they were quite depressing. t
the security minister. meanwhile, benjamin netanyahu has criticised an israeli military plan that will pause fighting to allow more aid into gaza. he is facing pressure from the far right to reject any pauses until hamas is totally defeated. our middle east corresponded jon donnison has more from jerusalem on the situation. i don t think the disbanding of the war cabinet is going to have a significant impact, really, on israeli strategy in the war in gaza. but it is significant because the war cabinet was set up in the days following the october 7 attack really as a symbol of political unity. that political unity has evaporated. so you have prime minister netanyahu looking increasingly isolated, with the resignation last week of benny gantz, the centrist opposition leader, and his ally, gadi eisenkot, both of them relatively moderate figures, both men with vast military experience. and, in particular, someone who i think the americans were keen to hear their views. so now, mr
scandal involving not just toyota but toyota, honda, mazda, suzuki, yamaha motor, whole number of companies there. so i imagine this will be the main topic of the meeting. there may be some questions about keeping costs under control, the effect of the weak yen, perhaps the decline in demand for electric vehicles, but really they are going to be tackling this problem head on. i just wanted to say on that point, how do you feel that controversy is likely to impact the company, short and long term? i think, short term, we can t deny the news of what has happened here, but i think it needs to be put into context. we don t actually have any cheating going on here. this is really somewhere between the bureaucratic way the japanese test cars, and actually being driven by one of the ministries, excuse the pun, and the way the press reported this. so what we re talking about here is actuallyjust the difference in a way between the way the domestic cars are tested, because in japan, d
company and basically to please shareholders going ahead, but of course with toyota they will be on the defensive, particularly because of the so called scandal involving not just toyota but toyota, honda, mazda, suzuki, yamaha motor, whole number of companies there. so imagine this will be there. so imagine this will be the main topic of the meeting. there may be some questions about keeping costs under control, the effect of the weekend, perhaps the decline in demand for electric vehicles, but really they are going to be tackling this problem head on. ijust tackling this problem head on. i just wanted to say on that point how do you feel that controversy is likely to impact the company, short and long term. i the company, short and long term. ~ , ., term. i think the short term, we can t term. i think the short term, we can t deny term. i think the short term, we can t deny the term. i think the short term, we can t deny the news - term. i think the short term, we ca