Japan's Recession Deepens

By Blaine Harden
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, February 16, 2009

TOKYO, Feb. 16 -- Japan's economy, the second-largest in the world, has recorded its worst performance in more than three decades.

The economy shrank at an annual 12.7 percent pace in the last three months of 2008, the government said Monday.

Exports during the quarter dropped a record 13.9 percent, as global demand evaporated for Japanese cars and electronics. Major companies such as Toyota and Sony have posted record losses, halted production in many factories and ordered widespread layoffs.

"There's no doubt that the economy is in its worst state in the postwar period," said Kaoru Yosano, minister of economic and fiscal policy.

The economy is falling faster here than in the United States or most other industrialized countries because of Japan's extraordinary dependence on exports for growth. Yosano said sales of autos, electronics and capital goods have been "severely hit" by the global downturn.

(More here.)