TOKYO—Japan’s household spending likely slipped back into contraction in August, when the government expanded emergency curbs to contain the coronavirus, a Reuters poll showed on Friday. The government this week ended a state of emergency it had imposed to combat the pandemic, as the number of new cases and deaths has come down rapidly in September and the strain on the medical system is easing. Household spending likely shed 1.5 percent in August from a year earlier, according to a median forecast from a Reuters poll of 18 economists, after a 0.7 percent increase in July. Month-on-month, spending is forecast to have dropped 2.0 percent in August, declining for a fourth straight month. “Real consumer spending is expected to be negative from the previous month,” said economists at Mizuho Research Institute. “Services spending decreased from the previous month due to the spread of the coronavirus, while goods consumption saw impact …
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