Japan's consumer spending kept shrinking for a 13th straight month in March, government data showed on Friday, creating challenges for policymakers seeking to engineer self-sustaining economic growth and normalise monetary policy. Household spending fell 1.2 per cent in March from a year earlier, the data showed, against economists' median forecast for a 2.4 per cent drop and following a 0.5 per cent decline in February. On a seasonally adjusted, month-on-month basis, spending increased 1.2 per cent, versus an estimated 0.3 per cent contraction and a 1.4 per cent rise in February. Separate data from Thursday showed ... (full story)