Jul 06 (NHK) - The latest forecast from Japan's government sees GDP growing by about 1.5 percent in fiscal 2019. Officials expect the current recovery to continue even after the planned consumption tax hike to 10 percent in October 2019.
Officials expect personal spending to increase, and predict that investment in plant and equipment will also grow solidly. They are expecting about 1.5 percent growth in real terms, excluding price fluctuations, and nominal growth of about 2.8 percent.
Looking to the current fiscal year, officials plan to lower the real growth estimate to about 1.5 percent, down 0.3 points from the January forecast. That's partly due to housing investment being weaker than anticipated.
