(MENAFN) According to Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), the country's industrial production dipped to 1.5 percent in August, Xinhua reported.
The figures were shocking as economists expected the nation's output to increase by 0.2 percent from July. The reading also showed a 2.9 percent contraction from the same month a year earlier.
The figures revealed the economy is struggling to recover from the April 1 tax hike, which sparked the sharpest economic contraction in five years as exports dipped impacting factory production and investments.
"The pace of the economic recovery will probably be dull in the third quarter. That's making it difficult for Abe to push through the planned sales-tax hike," a market economist at Mizuho Securities Co said.
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