TOKYO — Japan’s economy shrank by 7.8 percent in the second quarter of the year, posting its worst performance on record as the coronavirus pandemic ground economic activity to a near halt in April and May.

The nosedive in output in the three-month period — an annualized drop of 27.8 percent — was the third straight quarter of contraction for Japan, the world’s third-largest economy after the United States and China. It came on top of a 0.6 percent decline in the first quarter of 2020, or an annualized decrease of 2.2 percent, the country’s government said on Monday.

Already weakened by a tax increase, slowing demand from China and a series of natural disasters last fall, Japan’s economy became the first among major nations to officially fall into recession when the pandemic hit, causing exports to plunge and effectively obliterating …continued .
[Source: New York Times]