Japan’s Q1 GDP shrinks by 5.1% as consumption slows

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Japan’s economy shrank by an annualised 5.1% in the first quarter, weighed by poor consumption, Cabinet Office data showed on Tuesday.

The first-quarter decline was mainly due to a 1.4% drop in private consumption, which has been weighed by extended state of emergency COVID-19 curbs.

Exports rose by 2.3% year on year in the first quarter, slowing down markedly from the 11.7% expansion in the last three months of last year,

Imports were up by 4.0% in the first quarter, down from the 4.8% growth in the fourth quarter.