The ruling Liberal Democratic Party will form a group by the end of the month to examine how to best collect and compile economic statistics that are used in key measures including gross domestic product, party lawmaker Yoshimasa Hayashi said.
Hayashi, 55, added that he will chair the group and that any changes to the data are likely to result in stronger — not weaker — figures.
"We need to get the overall GDP numbers, including both consumption and business spending, a bit closer to reality," said Hayashi, who has previously been involved in overseeing the figures at the Cabinet Office.