Japan's key gauge on the state of the economy stood at 14.3 percent in March, staying well below the boom-or-bust line of 50 percent for the second straight month, after February's 10 percent, the government said Wednesday in a preliminary report.
It is the first time since the economy bottomed out in April 1999 that the index of coincident indicators, designed to measure the current state of the economy, has been below 50 percent for two months in a row, the Cabinet Office said. The last time the index remained in minus territory for more than a month was from August 1997 through December 1998. Government economists consider a reading below 50 percent as a sign of economic contraction, while a figure above that is viewed as a sign of expansion.
The government attributed the dismal showing to the decline in industrial production, on which the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry last month downgraded its assessment for a fourth successive month.