Japan slipped back into recession after the economy contracted sharply in the first quarter, underscoring the vulnerability of the world’s third-largest economy which has been battered by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
Gross domestic product fell 0.9 per cent in the first quarter compared with the previous three months, according to preliminary government data, even though the natural disaster struck Japan less than three weeks before the end of the period.
The decline follows a contraction in the final quarter of last year and will probably strengthen calls for greater government spending on relief and reconstruction, despite widespread worries about the impact of the extra borrowing required on an already highly indebted state.
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