Japan’s Falling GDP Backs Takaichi’s Case for Big Fiscal Package

Japan’s economic contraction over the summer will support Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s case to compile an ambitious stimulus package even as the central bank stays on track for a rate hike in coming months.

Japan’s real gross domestic product shrank by 1.8% on an annualized basis in the three months through September, the first decline in six quarters, according to a Cabinet Office report Monday. That was better than economists’ median estimate of a 2.4% fall.