Japan Q1 growth faster than expected

TOKYO: Japan reports that its economy grew at a fasterthan-expected 2.2 per cent annual pace in the JanuaryMarch period. Economists had forecast a strong expansion in the first quarter for the world’s third-largest economy, helped by a recovery in exports and consumer spending. But most estimates had not topped two per cent. The figures released yesterday are preliminary and are likely to be revised. The economy grew at a 1.2 per cent pace in the last quarter of last year.