Any lingering doubts about the depth of Japan's economic troubles were washed away on Friday with news that the economy shrank throughout the last nine months of 2001. Only once in two decades, in 1993, did that happen, the government said. New figures released by the Ministry of Finance showed that between October and December Japan's output fell by 1.2%, a rate that - had it occurred during a full year - would result in a 4.5% annual contraction of the economy. For 2001 as a whole, growth in the first three months meant that the fall was 0.5%.

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