Japan's economic growth downgraded to 0.7 percent

Japan's economic growth in the three months through June was downwardly revised to an annualized 0.7% from a preliminary reported 1.4%, due partly to slowing capital spending by companies, the Japanese government said Monday. An official of the Cabinet Office said that the downgraded growth, while showing the fourth-straight quarter of expansion of Japan's gross domestic product, reflects a downward revision in corporate investments as well as a fall in inventories, according to Japan's (Kyodo) news agency. The April-June real gross domestic product corresponds to a 0.2% gain from the previous quarter, compared with the earlier reported growth of 0.3%, the Cabinet Office said.