Gov't likely to anticipate minus growth for FY 2009+

TOKYO, March 5 Kyodo -
(EDS: UPDATING LEAD AND 2ND GRAF, ADDING INFO AT LAST GRAF)
The government decided Thursday to 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 the deepening recession.

''We have to start reviewing (the projection) in April,'' Economic and Fiscal
Policy Minister 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 would remain unchanged in fiscal 2009 from the previous year.
His remarks suggest the government now believes it will be difficult to avert
an economic contraction in the next fiscal year starting in April, though it
had tried to avoid this 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 their workforces in the face of slumping sales at home
and abroad.
Many private think tanks estimate that the Japanese economy will shrink 4.0
percent in real terms in fiscal 2009 from the previous year.
==Kyodo