TOKYO -- The Japanese economy has fallen into a "severe situation" and is "extremely depressed" from the coronavirus, the government warned Thursday, bringing down the curtain on years of optimism and the Abenomics-driven recovery since 2013.
The bleak assessment in its monthly report for March is in line with the view of many private-sector economists that a contraction had already begun under the weight of Japan's recent consumption tax hike, even before the virus began to take its toll.
