Japan’s economy shrank in the three months to September, official data showed Tuesday, due to high import costs and weak private consumption despite the end of Covid-19 restrictions.
It follows three consecutive quarters of growth, after an initial negative reading in the first quarter was revised upwards.
Corporate investment was up in the period but private residential investment declined, while an increase in import costs overwhelmed an increase in exports, the cabinet office said.
The world’s third-largest economy contracted 0.3 percent quarter-on-quarter, missing market expectations of 0.3 percent growth, the data showed.—AFP
