Economic Growth In Japan Plunges

Japan’s economic growth dropped sharply in the final three months of 1994, hurt by the impact of the strong yen and a drop in consumer spending, the government reported Friday.

Still, officials from the Economic Planning Agency said the decline was no cause for worry and that Japan’s economy still is recovering.

Japan’s gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic activity, shrank nearly a percentage point in the October-December quarter to an annual rate of 3.4 percent, or 421 trillion yen or $4.7 trillion, the agency said.

The GDP grew at an annual rate of 3.5 percent in the third quarter.

Tsutomu Tanaka, an agency official, said one cause for optimism was the second consecutive increase in private sector spending on plant and equipment after three years of decline.