The first reason why such high growth was possible is buoyant domestic demand in the form of business fixed investment and private consumption. The contribution of domestic demand to the aforementioned growth rate during the high-speed growth era was 9.5 percentage points, while the contribution of net external demand, that is, exports minus imports, was minus 0.3 percentage points.
While the contribution of net external demand was negative, this does not mean that external demand, and in turn the global economy, did not contribute to Japan’s economic growth. The reason why the contribution of net external demand made a small negative contribution was that not only exports increased but also imports, as a result of the growth in domestic demand, increased considerably.