Japan’s economy contracts in first quarter as energy prices soar
Japan’s economy shrank at a worse than expected annual rate of 1 per cent in the first quarter, as rising prices and COVID-19 restrictions sapped spending and investment, according to data released Wednesday.
Japan’s real gross domestic product, or GDP, the sum of the value of a nation’s products and services, contracted 0.2 per cent in January-March compared to the previous quarter, the Cabinet Office said.
The world’s third-largest economy managed modest growth in the final quarter of last year, but the economy sank the quarter before that.
