By Lisa Twaronite and Michael Kitchen
Los Angeles Times
Japan's economy shrank last quarter by almost double the margin economists had expected, as the March disaster pushed the country back into recession.
Gross domestic product contracted 0.9% during the January-March quarter, marking a 3.7% annualized drop, the Cabinet Office reported Thursday.
The result showed a far greater drop than a median forecast for a 0.5% quarter-over-quarter contraction.
On Monday, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said the second extra budget for this fiscal year aimed at disaster reconstruction might not be ready until August.
Thursday's data "could intensify pressure on the Kan government to bring forward the second stimulus package to accelerate reconstruction efforts," said Prakash Sakpal, an economist at ING Financial Markets Research.
A drop in domestic demand took 0.8 of a percentage point off growth last quarter. Business investment fell 0.9% and consumer spending declined 0.6%.
Read here
Los Angeles Times
Japan's economy shrank last quarter by almost double the margin economists had expected, as the March disaster pushed the country back into recession.
Gross domestic product contracted 0.9% during the January-March quarter, marking a 3.7% annualized drop, the Cabinet Office reported Thursday.
The result showed a far greater drop than a median forecast for a 0.5% quarter-over-quarter contraction.
On Monday, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said the second extra budget for this fiscal year aimed at disaster reconstruction might not be ready until August.
Thursday's data "could intensify pressure on the Kan government to bring forward the second stimulus package to accelerate reconstruction efforts," said Prakash Sakpal, an economist at ING Financial Markets Research.
A drop in domestic demand took 0.8 of a percentage point off growth last quarter. Business investment fell 0.9% and consumer spending declined 0.6%.
Read here
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