Japans economy shrank at annual rate of 27.8% in April-June, the worst contraction on record, as the coronavirus pandemic slammed consumption and trade, government data released Monday, Aug. 17, 2020, show.
(AP Photo/Koji Sasahara, File)TOKYO Japans economy shrank at annual rate of 27.8% in April-June, the worst contraction on record, as the coronavirus pandemic slammed consumption and trade, according to government data released Monday.
The annual rate shows what the number would have been if continued for a year.
For the April-June period, Japan's exports dropped at a whopping annual rate of 56%, while private consumption dipped at an annual rate of nearly 29%.
Japan's export-dependent economy relies heavily on growth in China, where outbreaks of the novel coronavirus began and have since subsided.