Japan Struggles to Escape Recession as Production Drops: Economy
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Japan’s inflation slowed for a fourth month in November, and industrial production and retail sales unexpectedly dropped, pointing to further weakness in an economy Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is trying to revive from recession.
Output fell 0.6 percent in November from a month earlier, the trade ministry said today, against a median estimate of a 0.8 percent increase in a Bloomberg News survey of economists. Retail sales slid 0.3 percent, while consumer prices excluding fresh food rose 2.7 percent from a year earlier. Real wages fell the most since 2009.