A grim picture of Japan’s deepening recession emerged on Friday when official data showed a record fall in industrial output, a big rise in joblessness and sharply slowing inflation.
As some of Japan’s biggest corporate names unveiled heavy losses, Kaoru Yosano, minister for economics and fiscal policy, admitted it was impossible to say when the world’s second-biggest economy would bottom out. Economists warned the country was heading for its worst postwar recession.
