Tokyo, May 18 (IANS): Japan's GDP in fiscal year 2020 shrank 4.6 per cent in real terms, down for the second straight year, marking the largest annual contraction on record since data compilation began in 1955, government statistics revealed on Tuesday.

According to the preliminary data released by the Cabinet Office, the previous record decrease was a 3.6 per cent drop in fiscal 2008 marked in the wake of the global financial crisis, reports Xinhua news agency.

Meanwhile, government statistics showed the country's economy in the January-March period contracted an annualised real 5.1 per cent compared to the previous quarter, the first decline in three quarters, due to a second state of emergency over the Covid-19 pandemic,.

The decrease in real GDP, the total value of goods and services produced in the country adjusted for inflation, corresponds to a 1.3 per cent contraction on a seasonally adjusted quarterly basis, government data showed.

Amid a resurgence of Covid-19 infections since November 2020, the government declared the second state of emergency in early January for the Tokyo metropolitan area.

It was expanded it to 11 out of Japan's 47 prefectures within a week before it was fully lifted in late March.

The emergency state requiring people to stay at home and restaurants and bars to shorten opening hours led to a sharp drop of 1.4 per cent in private consumption.