The government upgraded its assessment of the economy for the first time in seven months in a monthly report released Friday, citing a pickup in private consumption.

"The Japanese economy is recovering at a moderate pace," the Cabinet Office said in the report. The expression was previously used in March 2014, a month before the government raised the consumption tax from 5 percent to 8 percent, which subsequently dented consumer sentiment.

In December, the Cabinet Office described the economy as "on a moderate recovery," an expression slightly weaker than the latest phrase.