Japan’s gross domestic product shrank for the second quarter in a row in the October-December 2023 period, according to preliminary data released by the Cabinet Office on Thursday, with the country dropping to fourth place in the global economic rankings.
GDP contracted 0.4% on an annualized basis, which was lower than a forecast of a small amount of growth by economists, following a 3.3% contraction in the previous quarter.
Still, analysts caution that the data is perhaps not as bad as it seems, given solid readings from other economic indicators.