Japan’s economy shrank in July-September as trade falls

TOKYO – The Japanese economy has shrunk at an annualized rate of 1.2 per cent in July-September, as consumer spending, investment and exports fell.

Cabinet Office preliminary data released Wednesday showed seasonally adjusted gross domestic product — the total value of a nation’s goods and services — dipped 0.3 per cent in the third quarter from the previous quarter.

Dragging on growth for the world’s third-largest economy was diminished trade, with exports falling 1.8 per cent and imports dropping 1.4 per cent, the data show. Consumer spending and company investments were also down.

The economy grew for the previous April-June quarter, but contracted the quarter before that. That contraction, in the first quarter, ended the longest straight period of expansion for Japan in nearly three decades.