Japan slips into recession

TOKYO: Japan dived into its first recession since 2015 with the world’s third-largest economy contracting by 0.9 percent in the first quarter as it wrestles with the fallout from the coronavirus, according to official data on Monday.

The drop in gross domestic product followed a 1.9-percent decline in the fourth quarter of 2019 as a tax hike and typhoons hit Japan hard — even before the pandemic shut down much of the economy.