Japan to revamp economic data amid criticism over GDP

Change to take effect in 2022 expected to reduce frequent wild revisions

20200129 steel factory in japan

Workers at a steel factory in Mie Prefecture, central Japan. Detailed industrial output data will help improve Japan's estimates of its GDP. (Photo by Koji Uema)

Nikkei staff writers

TOKYO -- The Japanese government has belatedly set about making its economic data releases more up-to-date, as the country hopes to bring the quality of its statistics more in line with the standards of its peers in the Group of Seven leading industrial nations.

The change will be achieved by releasing business investment data in a more timely manner so it can be incorporated into the quarterly gross domestic product data, according to people familiar with the matter. GDP estimates will start being released under a revised format from the year starting April 2022 at the earliest.

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