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Japan's GDP down 1.8 percent in July-September

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-12-09 10:36

TOKYO -- Japan's gross domestic product contracted more than first estimated in the July-September quarter, the government said Tuesday, further evidence of a deepening slump in the world's second largest economy.

Assembly line workers on a Toyota Motor's production line at the company's Tsutsumi factory in Aichi prefecture, Japan, pictured in 2007. Japan's gross domestic product contracted more than first estimated in the July-September quarter, the government said Tuesday, further evidence of a deepening slump in the world's second largest economy. [Agencies]

The Cabinet Office said GDP, a measure of the value of goods and services, shrank at a 1.8 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter compared with the initial estimate of a 0.4 percent contraction.

Japan's economy slipped into recession in the third quarter of this year with GDP contracting 0.5 percent from the previous quarter. A recession is usually defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth.

Last week, Japan raised its estimate of fiscal 2007 economic growth to 1.9 percent from 1.7 percent, citing a stronger-than-expected rise in capital investment.

But the US has been in a recession for a year now, adding to pressure on Japan's export-dependent economy.