According to Bloomberg, Goldman Sachs Group recently published a research report that although Japan has launched a record economic stimulus package of nearly one trillion US dollars, after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared a state of emergency in Tokyo, Osaka and other parts of Japan.Japan's GDP Q2 will decline at a record rate of 25 per cent.

Although the Japanese government's call for people to stay at home is not legally binding, it will also reduce Japan's GDP by 25% and further hit companies. Japanese Q2 exports are expected to fall by 60 per cent.

-Goldman Sachs Group economists Naohiko Baba and Yuriko Tanaka

In terms of fighting the epidemic, the measures taken by Japan are very different from those taken by Europe and the United States, as most government measures have no legal effect, and public transport, financial services and food stores continue to operate.

And Japan's neighbor South Korea is also having a hard time. South Korea's economy is expected to shrink 2.3 per cent this year as a result of the COVID-19 epidemic, the Korea Economic Research Institute said on Wednesday. If it does, it would be the first since the won crisis in 1998, when the economy shrank by 5.1 per cent.

Although Mr Abe's 108 trillion yen stimulus package is much larger than a series of measures introduced during the global financial crisis 11 years ago, economists like Goldman Sachs Group believe its direct boost to the economy may be only 14 trillion yen.