The Japanese economy, severely hit by the March 11 disaster, experienced a sharper than expected decline in the first quarter, the government said Thursday.
It was the second consecutive quarterly shrinkage in the gross domestic product, technically pushing the economy into a recession.
The first quarter GDP of the world's third-largest economy shrank 0.9 percent from the previous quarter, showing the impact of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami on corporate and household spending has been much worse than previously thought.
The GDP decline translates into an inflation-adjusted annual rate of 3.7 percent.
Kyodo News reported its market forecast was a 2.3 percent contraction.
The economy is expected to recover in the second half, however, as reconstruction work gets under way and supply constraints ease.