Japan And Australia Enter Third Economic Downturns As Omicron Wave Hits

Summary

• APAC economies Japan and Australia slipped into contraction at the start of 2022 as new waves of COVID-19 infections disrupted business activity.
• Manufacturing output contracted in Australia, though the service sector output index fell almost twice as fast as its manufacturing counterpart.
• Risks of price pressure renewals should also not be ruled out given precedents of previous waves.

Oleksii Liskonih/iStock via Getty Images

APAC economies Japan and Australia slipped into contraction at the start of 2022 as new waves of COVID-19 infections disrupted business activity. The service sectors were especially hard hit, and manufacturing in Australia was also badly affected. That