Gov't eyes revising downward zero growth forecast for FY 2009+

TOKYO, March 5 Kyodo -
Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Kaoru Yosano indicated Thursday the
government will revise downward its estimate that the Japanese economy will
remain flat in real terms in fiscal 2009 through next March from the previous
year, in light of a deepening recession.

''We have to start reviewing (the projection) in April,'' Yosano told a session
of the House of Councillors' Budget Committee. The Cabinet adopted an estimate
in January that Japan's real gross domestic product will remain unchanged in
fiscal 2009 from the previous year.
His remarks suggest that the government now finds it difficult to avert
economic contraction in the next fiscal year starting in April, though it had
tried to avoid it through huge stimulus measures.
Yosano, who concurrently serves as finance minister and financial services
minister, told the Diet panel that the current government's projection is based
on the most optimistic economic data in December but indexes across the board
have been turning downward.
The nation's economy is expected to slow further as exporters such as
automakers are slashing workforces in the face of slumping sales at home and
abroad.
==Kyodo