TOKYO—Japan’s economy unexpectedly shrank for the first time in a year in the third quarter, stoking further uncertainty about the outlook as global recession risks, a weak yen and higher import costs took a toll on household consumption and businesses.
The world’s third-biggest economy has struggled to motor on despite the recent lifting of COVID-19 curbs, and has faced intensifying pressure from red-hot global inflation, sweeping interest rate increases worldwide, and the Ukraine war.
Gross domestic product fell an annualized 1.2 in July-September, official data showed, compared with economists’ median estimate for a 1.1 percent expansion and a revised 4.6 percent rise in the second quarter….