Japan Plunges Into Recession

Japan's economy has slipped into recession as housing and business investment fell sharply after an increase in tax. The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) decreased by 1.6% in July-September after declining by 7.3% in the second quarter.

The recession has led to global economic uncertainty as China’s growth is also sluggish and the 18-country eurozone grew by merely 0.2% in the same quarter.

"This is absolutely not a situation in which we should be debating an increase in the consumption tax," Etsuro Honda, a professor at the University of Shizuoka said.

“The impact of the sales tax was much more severe than expected,” said Junko Nishioka, an economist at RBS Japan Securities.

According to the Japanese media, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may delay the hike in sales tax and even announce snap polls in the country.
Abe’s economic advisor termed the recession as “shocking.”

India and Japan had recently signed nuclear deal and Japan had promised to invest $34 billion in India.
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