Japan's gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by an annualized 12.7 percent in the October-December quarter of 2008, the fastest pace in about 35 years as the world second largest economy was badly hit by the ongoing global financial crisis, said a government report on Monday.
It was the sharpest decrease in the country's economy since the first quarter of 1974 when its GDP suffered a decline of 3.4 percent, or an annualized 13.1 percent, due to the fallout of the first oil crisis, said the Cabinet Office in a preliminary report.
Meanwhile, the nation's economy shrank for three quarters in a row, the first time in seven years, it said.
In 2008, Japan's GDP witnessed the first downturn in nine years, contracting by 0.7 percent.
GDP is the total market value of the goods and services produced domestically during a specific period of time. Real GDP figures are adjusted for changes in the value of money or assessed by purchasing power.