Economic growth in Japan weakened significantly in the last financial quarter. Official figures show between April and June this year gross domestic product – the sum of the nation's goods and services – grew by 0.1 per cent, much lower than expected. Analysts say the country's export-led recovery appears to be faltering as the value of the yen appreciates. Japan's close rivals, Germany and the US, recently reported far superior GDP figures for the same period. Germany registered a 2.2 per cent rise, while the US economy grew at an annualised rate of 2.4 per cent. World Bank figures show that in the first eight years of this century Japan's economy expanded by just 5 per cent while China's grew by 261 per cent. The GDP figures give further credibility to the widely held belief that China will soon overtake Japan as the world's second biggest economy.