Japan's GDP shrinks at 3.4% pace in January-March

TOKYO -- Japan's economy contracted 0.9% in January-March, or at an annualized pace of 3.4%, the Cabinet Office said Monday, showing that the world's third-largest economy was in a technical recession even before a state of national emergency was declared over the coronavirus outbreak.

The second consecutive quarterly contraction, while widely anticipated, is still a reminder to the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of the need for urgent action to prevent the pandemic from completely derailing his Abenomics economic revival program.