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Japan's economy shrank for the first time in four quarters during the three months that ended in March, as weak private consumption and a 0.6 percent quarter-on-quarter drop in exports — also the first in a year — dragged the growth down. The country's seasonally-adjusted real GDP fell 0.2 percent in the first quarter from the previous three months, translating into an annualized decline of 0.7 percent, according to preliminary government data released on Friday. The contraction exceeded the median market forecast of a 0.2 percent annualized decline. ▲ A staff member tries to attract customers outside a store in Tokyo on Thursday. Issei Kato/REUTERS Economists said the first quarter figures highlight the underlying fragility of Japan's economy and warned that the effects of US tariff measures are likely to become more evident in the current quarter. Takahide Kiuchi, executive economist at the Nomura Research Institute, said the figures suggest the US government's tariffs could fu
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