TOKYO — Toyota Motor Corp. reported Tuesday a sharp plunge in fiscal fourth quarter profit as the global pandemic slammed vehicle sales and halted production at its auto plants.

Japan’s top automaker logged a net profit of $590 million for the quarter ended in March, nose-diving 86 percent from the same period the year before.

Quarterly sales slipped 8 percent to $66 billion, compared to a year ago.

President Akio Toyoda said the company is facing its biggest crisis since the global financial crisis, stressing how hard it had been just to report financial results.

But he said Toyota was learning to grow leaner and make a fresh start.

Damage from COVID-19 cost Toyota $1.4 billion in operating profit for the latest quarter, offsetting cost cuts, the company said.

The company did not give a net profit forecast for the fiscal year through March 2021, but acknowledged operating profit was expected to fall by a whopping 80 percent.

Sales are expected to recover as the pandemic is brought under control, it said.

U.S. production is resuming gradually, and sales are expected to recover to normal levels by early 2021, Chief Financial Officer Kenta Kon said.