The prospect for Japan and other economies around the world appears bleak as even the United States has now failed to grow, Japan's Cabinet minister in charge of the economy said Sunday.
"It's regrettable, but I think the entire world is in an unavoidable situation," Heizo Takenaka said, suggesting that worldwide contraction is looming.
He made the comments during an appearance on the weekly "Sunday Debate" program on public broadcaster NHK television.
The US economy shrank at a rate of 0.4 percent in the July-September quarter and economists are forecasting an even bigger drop in the current October-December quarter. A common definition of a recession is two consecutive quarters of declining economic output.
Japan, the world's second largest economy, also failed to grow in its latest reporting period, shrinking 0.8 percent for the quarter ending in June.
Takenaka said that Japan has become more vulnerable to external shocks because efforts to reform its economy have been delayed, thus resulting in further weakness.
(Xinhua News Agency November 5,2001)
