Japan’s GDP contracted much more rapidly in the third quarter than initially thought, underscoring the weakness of the world’s second largest economy at a time of international financial turmoil. Revised GDP data released Tuesday showed a quarter-on-quarter fall of 0.5% for the three months to September, compared with a preliminary estimate issued last month of a 0.1% decline. On an annualised basis, the Q3 contraction - which put Japan officially into recession – is now estimated at 1.8%, rather than 0.4% as previously. While the downward revision was worse than many economists expected, Japanese stock investors greeted it calmly, with the benchmark Nikkei index actually rising slightly in morning trade. However, the revised data are likely to fuel pessimism about the prospects for the Japanese economy. Reuters meanwhile reports that the number of Japanese corporate failures so far this year on Monday marked an annual post-war record.
