Tokyo

THE size of the challenge facing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government in getting the Japanese economy back onto a sustainable growth path was highlighted dramatically on Monday when it was disclosed that the economy slid back into recession for the second time in the space of a year during the third quarter of 2015.

In real or inflation-adjusted terms, the world's third-largest economy contracted by a considerably worse-than-expected 0.8 per cent at an annualised rate in the July to September period, following a 0.7 per cent contraction in the second quarter - putting the faltering economy back into technical recession.