Japan Govt Cuts FY 2024 Growth Forecast to 0.7 Pct

Tokyo, Nov. 1 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese government on Friday revised down its estimate for the country’s economic growth in fiscal 2024, citing a slow recovery in automobile exports following vehicle testing scandals.

Japan’s gross domestic product is now projected to rise 0.7 pct in inflation-adjusted real terms in the year through next March, down from the previous forecast of 0.9 pct.

Meanwhile, the growth forecast for fiscal 2025 was kept unchanged at 1.2 pct.

The new forecasts were released by the government at a meeting of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy. It was the first meeting of the council under the administration of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who took office in early October.

At the meeting, council members from the private sector called for intensive discussions on wage increases, in light of the Ishiba administration’s goal of raising the country’s average hourly minimum wage to 1,500 yen in the 2020s.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]