Coronavirus impact is threatening Japan’s economy

Japan is on the brink of recession as the economy contracted at its fastest in more than five by 1.6% in quarter four at the end of 2019.

The impact of coronavirus is threatening tourism and exports for the worlds’ third largest economy and the Nikkei index fell by 0.7%.

Taro Saito, executive research fellow at NLI Research Institute said, “There’s a pretty good chance the economy will suffer another contraction in January-March.

“The virus will mainly hit inbound tourism and exports, but could also weigh on domestic so consumption quite a lot.

“If this epidemic is not contained by the time of the Tokyo Olympic Games, the damage to the economy will be huge.”