Special Report: Global Financial Crisis

    TOKYO, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Japan's gross domestic product (GDP) shrank a real 12.1 percent on an annualized basis in the October-December quarter, up from a 12.7 percent decline in the preliminary report, the cabinet office said Thursday.

    It was the steepest fall in about 35 years for Japan's economy, which has sank for the third consecutive quarter, the office said.

    On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the economy contracted by 3.2 percent, the fast pace since the January-March quarter of 1974, when the figure read 3.4 percent, or 13.1 percent on an annualized basis as the first oil crisis took a heavy toll on the world's second largest economy.

    In nominal terms, Japan's GDP shrank for the third straight quarter, down by 1.6 percent quarter-on-quarter in the October-December period, or 6.4 percent on an annualized basis, compared with an initially reported 1.7 percent quarterly fall, or annualized 6.6 percent decrease.

    Consumer spending, which accounts for about 55 percent of Japan's GDP, saw a real 0.4 percent quarterly fall while corporate capital spending, a main driver of Japan's six-year economic recovery since 2002, contracted a real 5.4 percent from the previous quarter.

    Exports tumbled 13.8 percent while imports grew 3.0 percent from the previous quarter.

    Public investment increased a real 0.1 percent and housing investment jumped 5.7 percent.

    GDP is the total market value of the goods and services produced domestically during a specific period of time. Real GDP figures are adjusted for changes in the value of money or assessed by purchasing power.