Japan saw a drop in economic activity in the first quarter of this year and doubled its trade deficit in April, pointing to a weakening of the world's third-largest economy, threatening a recession.

The Japanese economy shrank at a rate of 1,0 percent in the first quarter, government data showed, slightly less than expected as private consumption showed resilience, despite the coronavirus spreading again. The decline in gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter was 0,2 percent compared to the previous quarter.

The annual rate shows how much the economy would have fallen or grown in the last 12 months if it had had the same rate of decline or growth in each quarter. The data show that private consumption, which accounts for more than half of economic activity, remained virtually unchanged, while economists expected a decline of 0,5 percent.

According to new data from the Japanese Ministry of Finance, Japan's trade deficit in April of 839,2 billion yen ($ 6,5 billion) is slightly less than the expected deficit of 1,150 billion yen, compared to 414 billion yen in March.

Exports rose 12,5 percent year on year to 8,076 billion yen in April, slower than 14,7 percent in the previous month. Imports, meanwhile, jumped 28 percent from the same month last year, also less than a month earlier, when they rose 31 percent.

Given the slowdown in the growth of the world's largest economies, it is possible that the Japanese economy will fall in the current quarter. And that means it will fall into recession or decline for two consecutive quarters.

As a result, the Bank of Japan continues to pursue a stimulating monetary policy, although inflationary pressures are increasing in Japan as well as in most parts of the world.