Japan records biggest GDP decline since 1955

The country’s economy shrank 7-point-8 percent in the April to June period from the previous quarter, or 27-point-8 on-year.
This comes as private consumption and exports bore the brunt of the pandemic.
The third consecutive quarterly GDP decline was also Tokyo’s biggest, going back to 1955.
It also exceeds the 4-point-8 percent drop in Q1 of 2009 during the Lehman crisis.
A big drop was anticipated by economists following a state of emergency in April and May that kept many retail outlets closed, while exports were hit hard by shutdowns in America and Europe.
Japan’s decline was less severe than in the U.S. and the U.K.
But it was steeper than South Korea, where the economy only shrank 3-point-3 percent during the same period, thanks to a surge in demand for personal computers and more people working from home to avoid the risk of infection.