The Japanese government conceded on Wednesday that the country’s longest postwar period of economic expansion might be over as it reported a drop in its key measure of underlying economic conditions for June.

The June coincident indicators index fell a preliminary 1.6 per cent and the government downgraded its assessment of the economy to “deteriorating”. That marked an admission that the economy had probably entered a recession, with an official declaration possibly to come on Thursday on the publication of the government’s June economic report.