日本数据确认：经济总量被中国超越

飞雪寒冰

Japan’s economy contracted in the last quarter of 2010 amid slowing exports and weak domestic demand, according to preliminary data released on Monday.
日本周一公布的初步数据显示，由于出口不断放缓、国内需求持续低迷，日本经济在去年第四季度出现萎缩。

However, the 0.3 per cent quarter-on-quarter decline in real gross domestic product is unlikely to undermine growing confidence that Japan’s recovery will resume in the current quarter.
不过，0.3%的实际国内生产总值(GDP)环比降幅，不会削弱人们日渐增强的信心——即日本经济将于今年第一季度恢复增长。

飞雪寒冰

The contraction, equivalent to a 1.1 per cent decline on an annualised basis, was Japan’s first in more than a year and came after the expiry of a raft of government subsidies on consumer goods that had helped to inflate demand in the previous quarter.
日本GDP去年第四季度的环比降幅，按年率计算达到了1.1%，为日本经济一年多以来的首次下降。此前，日本政府为消费品提供大量补贴，推动了第三季度需求的大幅增长。而前不久，该项政策已期满停止。

Japan’s preliminary estimates of GDP are highly volatile, with government statisticians often issuing dramatic revisions as more detailed data becomes available.
日本GDP的初步估算数据的波动性一直很大。政府统计部门常常会根据之后掌握的具体相关数据，进行大幅修正。

飞雪寒冰

However, Monday’s data made clear that China has decisively surpassed Japan as the world’s second largest economy after the US in dollar terms.
不过，周一的数据清楚表明，中国已毋庸置疑地超过日本、成为仅次于美国的（按美元计算的）全球第二大经济体。

China, which has boasted a bigger economy since the second quarter of 2010, grew at an annual rate of nearly 10 per cent in the last three months of the year.
自2010年第二季度起，中国一直自诩经济规模已超过日本。按年率计算，去年第四季度中国经济增幅高达近10%。

飞雪寒冰

Speaking after the GDP data was released, Kaoru Yosano, Japan’s minister for economic and fiscal policy, was cautiously optimistic, noting that the US economy was showing signs of strength and China and other Asian neighbours were growing fast enough to require interest rate hikes.
在GDP数据公布后发表演讲时，日本经济财政大臣与谢野馨(Kaoru Yosano)表示出了谨慎的乐观。他指出，美国经济开始重显实力，中国及其它亚洲邻国的经济增长也强劲到需要加息。

Recent data showing that demand for the output of Japan’s powerful manufacturing sector is recovering have fuelled growing optimism among officials and analysts that the economy will return to growth in the current quarter.
新公布的数据显示，对日本强大制造业的产品的需求正在回升，这使得日本官员和分析人士对于日本经济将在本季度恢复增长的预期越来越乐观。

飞雪寒冰

about to emerge from that pause”, Masaaki Shirakawa, governor of the Bank of Japan, told journalists last week.
日本央行(BoJ)行长白川方明(Masaaki Shirakawa)上周对记者表示，日本经济“似乎即将走出停顿”。

Despite the fourth quarter contraction, Monday’s data suggested Japan’s economy grew a respectable 3.9 per cent in 2010.
周一的数据表明，尽管第四季度出现萎缩，但2010年全年日本经济实现了令人满意的3.9%的增长。