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Japanese media reported that the last drip was the worst since World War II. But the Cabinet Office said similar records began in 1980. The previous worst contraction was in 2009, during the 2008-2009 global financial crisis.
The world’s third largest economy was already sick when the outbreak of viruses struck late last year. The fallout has since gradually diminished in COVID-19 cases and social distance limits.
The economy shrank 0.6% in the period January-March, and contracted 1.8% in the period October-December last year, which means that Japan slipped into recession in the first quarter of this year. Recession is generally defined as two consecutive quarters of contraction.
Japanese economic growth was flat in July-September. The growth was at least the quarter before.
For the period April-June, Japan’s exports fell at a very annual rate of 56%, while private consumption fell at an annual rate of almost 29%.
That was without complete closure of companies to contain coronavirus outbreaks, which have been declining over the past month, and the total number of confirmed cases has skyrocketed to more than 56,000.
Analysts say the economy is expected to recover slowly once the pandemic’s impact is curtailed. Japan’s export – dependent economy is heavily dependent on growth in China, with outbreaks of the new coronavirus beginning and declining since then. But the question has remained subdued.
