Japan’s economy contracted as expected in the first quarter

Frederic Soltan | Corbis | Getty Images

Aerial view of Tokyo from the Skytree Tower, a broadcasting, restaurant, and observation tower in Sumida, Tokyo on March 17, 2015.

Japan’s economy contracted at an annualized rate of 0.6 percent in January-March, unchanged from a preliminary estimate issued last month, revised gross domestic product data from the Cabinet Office showed on Friday.

The result compared with the median estimate of a 0.4 percent annualized contraction in a Reuters poll of economists.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, GDP fell 0.2 percent in real, price-adjusted terms, also unchanged from the initial reading.The median estimate among economists was for a 0.1 percent
decline.