The economy shrank by an annualized 5.3 percent during the last three months of fiscal 1997 compared with the previous quarter, leading to the nation's first annual economic contraction in 23 years, according to figures released Friday.
The Economic Planning Agency calculated that annual growth in gross domestic product for fiscal 1997 to March 31 came to negative 0.7 percent, lower than the negative 0.5 percent logged in fiscal 1974 in what was previously the worst figure in the postwar era.
It was also the first time the economy shrank on a quarter-to-quarter basis for two straight quarters since the period spanning October 1994 through March 1995.