The government is likely to upgrade its basic assessment of the economy for the first time in four months on the back of robust consumption and a recovery in business investment, sources said Thursday.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government plans to describe the current economic recovery more specifically in its monthly economic report scheduled to be released Friday, they said.
For three months until last month, the government left its basic assessment unchanged, saying the economy "is on the way to recovery at a moderate pace."
Recent data have shown that consumer spending is healthy, due partly to a rush in demand ahead of the sales tax hike to 8 percent in April, while capital spending has started to grow with corporate profits improving.