A summer surge of Covid-19 cases and the associated drop in consumer spending caused Japan's economy to shrink faster than estimated during the third quarter. Japan's gross domestic product contracted an annualised 3.6 per cent during the July to September period, according to revised figures released by the cabinet office on Wednesday.
夏季Covid-19病例激增,以及随之而来的消费支出下降,导致日本经济在第三季度的收缩速度超过了预期。日本内阁府周三公布的修正后数据显示,今年7月至9月,日本国内生产总值折合成年率萎缩3.6%。
That was a faster pace of contraction than the 3.0 per cent rate projected by the government's preliminary reading of third-quarter GDP released in mid-November. The faster rate of contraction relates to a period in which Tokyo hosted the Olympic Games without fans and shortly afterwards, when daily Covid-19 infections soared in big cities.
这一收缩速度高于政府在11月中旬发布的第三季度国内生产总值初步读数3.0%的预期。较快的萎缩率与东京主办奥运会期间没有粉丝有关,之后不久,大城市的每日Covid-19感染人数激增。
The sharp drop-off in consumption under those conditions, said bond and equity traders in Tokyo, could augur badly for the coming months if consumers respond similarly to a rapid rise in infections related to the Omicron variant.
东京的债券和股票交易员表示,如果消费者对与Omicron变种相关的感染病例迅速上升做出类似反应,那么在这种情况下消费的急剧下降可能预示着未来几个月的糟糕兆头。