Toyota, the world's top auto maker, said its losses were ballooning as global car sales slide.

The Japanese company warned on Friday that its operating loss for the year to end-March would be 450 billion yen ($4.95 billion), three times the loss it had forecast just six weeks ago.

Toyota's sales fell 34 percent last month in the US, its biggest market, and 23 percent in Japan, as recession gripped major economies.