Japan's gross domestic product data for the April-June quarter probably won't be released by Aug. 19 as planned, a senior Cabinet Office official said Friday.
"We are preparing intensively for the release of the GDP data under a new calculation method, but we are unable to do so in the first half of August," Yuzo Kobayashi, vice minister for economic and fiscal policy at the Cabinet Office, said.
Kobayashi said the release will be delayed due to the enormous work involved in shifting to the new method.
Ironically, the new method is intended to allow the release of preliminary data about one month earlier.
Under the new method, uses of supply-side statistics will be expanded to speed up data compilation, enabling the government to release preliminary data about one month and 10 days after each quarter.
The government had planned to unveil the April-June quarter GDP in early August under the new method, compared with early September under the current method.
Kobayashi said the government will not release the second preliminary GDP data for the January-March quarter -- scheduled for Aug. 12 -- because the Cabinet Office will be busy compiling the April-June data.