Japan suffers worst economic slump in five years

Typhoon Hagibis killed more than 100 people and caused widespread flooding in October. [JIJI PRESS/AFP/File / JIJI PRESS]

Japan has suffered its worst quarterly GDP contraction in more than five years, with a tax hike and a deadly typhoon taking a toll on the world's third-largest economy.

The nation's gross domestic product in the three months to December shrank 1.6 percent from the previous quarter, even before the novel coronavirus outbreak in China hit Japan, according to official data published on Monday.