Japan is back in recession after its economy shrank at a worse-than-expected annualised rate of 0.8 per cent in the third quarter.

今年第三季度，日本经济按年率计算萎缩了0.8%，萎缩幅度大大超过人们预期的0.3%，而且意味着日本经济再度陷入衰退。

The figure, which came in well below expectations of a 0.3 per cent fall, is a fresh blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s efforts to end deflation and revitalise economic growth.

对日本首相安倍晋三(Shinzo Abe)结束通缩、重振经济增长的努力来说，这一数字可谓是一个最新打击。

Although there is little sign of the economy falling into a downward spiral, sluggish demand makes it harder to persuade companies to raise wages and investment next year.

尽管目前几乎没有迹象表明日本经济正坠入下行螺旋，但疲弱的需求将更难说服日本企业在明年提高薪资和扩大投资。

The Bank of Japan regards wage rises as essential for progress towards its goal of 2 per cent inflation.

日本央行(Bank of Japan)将薪资上涨视为实现2%通胀率目标过程中的必要一步。

“The second straight fall in GDP underlines the downside risks to the Bank of Japan’s growth forecasts. With rising slack dampening price pressures, we remain convinced that more monetary stimulus will eventually be needed,” said Marcel Thieliant at Capital Economics in Singapore.

凯投宏观(Capital Economics)驻新加坡的马塞尔舠连特(Marcel Thieliant)表示：“日本国内生产总值(GDP)连续第二个季度萎缩突显出日本央行增长预期面临的下行风险。考虑到愈发疲软的经济平抑了物价压力，我们仍然相信最终有必要出台更多货币刺激。”

However, the breakdown of gross domestic product suggests there is still some momentum in the economy. Almost all of the decline was due to businesses running down inventory, which knocked 2.1 percentage points off annualised growth.

然而，GDP的分项数据表明，日本经济中仍存在一些动力。GDP的萎缩几乎全是由企业降低库存导致的，这一因素将GDP年化增幅抹去了2.1个百分点。

By their nature, inventories can only fall so far. Meanwhile consumption contributed an annualised 1.2 percentage points to growth and net exports an annualised gain of 0.4 percentage point.

本质上说，库存只能降至这种水平。消费为GDP年化增幅贡献了1.2个百分点，净出口贡献了0.4个百分点。

But investment remained weak, knocking 0.7 percentage point off the annualised growth rate. Mr Abe is pushing Japanese companies to invest more but they often choose to do so overseas.

但投资仍然疲弱，将GDP年化增幅抹去了0.7个百分点。安倍正敦促日本企业扩大投资，但这些企业往往选择的是扩大海外投资。

Japan’s government is preparing a supplementary budget to boost the economy. It has signalled a bad GDP figure could encourage it to expand that stimulus.

日本政府正准备追加预算，以刺激经济增长。日本政府表示，糟糕的GDP数据可能会促使其扩大这种刺激。