Fiscal policy minister Kaoru Yosano indicated Tuesday the government could soon declare that deflation has ended and that business groups no longer feel deflationary pressure.
"Although we say out loud we are in a situation in which prices continue to fall, very few people in business groups say the same thing," Yosano told reporters.
"I believe a gap is growing between the government description and the reality in business groups."
Yosano made the comments when asked for his assessment of the revised gross domestic product data in the January-March quarter and how he thinks the economy will move out of deflation.
The GDP was revised upward Monday to an annualized real 3.1 percent growth from a 1.9 percent rise in a preliminary report.