Singapore, Germany, France, Hong Kong and now Japan all claim to be leaving the recession behind, but is it too early to be talking about sustained recoveries?

The Japanese Government is the latest to declare an end to negative numbers after its economy grew by 0.9% in the April-to-June quarter. There is naturally cause for optimism considering that this comes after four consecutive quarters of contractions.

Market commentators say that the positive result follows the Japanese Government's huge infusion of funds into the economy earlier this year, but some analysts are still fearful that this stimulus package may still not be enough to guarantee ongoing positive momentum.

But more positively, other analysts say that if Japan's latest quarterly rate is maintained for a full year, then the economy will grow by 3.7%.

Japan's 'exit' from recession follows the surprise emergence of the eurozone's two biggest economies – France and Germany. German GDP grew by 0.3% between April and June, bringing to an end the country's deepest downturn since the second World War and France saw the same growth, although the eurozone as a whole contracted by 0.1%.

Hong Kong also announced this month that it has emerged from recession, posting growth of 3.3% in the three months from April to June and this follows the earlier announcement by the Singaporean Government which said that its economy grew by an annualised 20.7% in the second quarter.