The government will consider reviewing the ways to estimate economic growth to narrow the gap between preliminary and revised reports, economic and fiscal policy minister Hiroko Ota said Tuesday.
The government will hold a meeting Thursday and start discussions on possible reasons for the gap and other issues, including what basic statistical data are necessary for compiling gross domestic product estimates more accurately.
It was reported in December that the economy grew a real 2.4 percent in the year through March 2006, a figure sharply lower than the preliminarily reported 3.3 percent.
"In watching the economy, (such a wide gap) cannot be overlooked," Ota said.
The government may adopt a new method for compiling GDP estimates for its revised report on GDP for fiscal 2006, which ended March 31, due out at the end of this year.