Japanese economy

The Japanese economy contracted at an annualised rate of 27.8 per cent in the second quarter, as the world’s third-largest economy was devastated by the novel coronavirus pandemic, a government report showed on Monday.

The third straight quarterly contraction marked the biggest fall since 1980, when comparable data became available.

The reading was almost in line with the 26.6 per cent contraction forecast by the Japan Centre for Economic Research.

The centre expected the economy to bounce back in the July-to-September period with annualised growth of 13.6 per cent.

Consumer …