FX.co ★ Japan Lifts Growth Forecast On Better Spending Prospects

Japan's government upgraded its growth projections for the next fiscal year as rising wages are expected to prop up consumer spending, official data showed Thursday.

The real economic growth is seen at 1.5 percent in the fiscal year starting April 2023, up from the previous outlook of 1.1 percent.

However, for the current fiscal year 2022, the growth outlook was trimmed to 1.7 percent from 2.0 percent.

Inflation for the next fiscal year is forecast to slow to 1.7 percent from 3.0 percent in the current fiscal year ending next April.

Earlier this week, the cabinet office had kept its economic assessment unchanged in its monthly report. The cabinet office retained its view that the Japanese economy is picking up moderately.

However, the government downgraded its assessment about industrial output saying "industrial production appears to be pausing for picking up."

The official data earlier this month showed that the economy contracted less than estimated in the third quarter. GDP was down 0.8 percent in the third quarter, which was revised up from the -1.2 percent estimated previously.

The International Monetary Fund had forecast Japan's growth to be more stable at 1.7 percent in both 2021 and 2022 and 1.6 percent next year.