The official view in Japan for more than a year has been that the economy contracted in 2014 after a sales-tax hike stunted consumer spending. A new analysis from economists at the central bank paints a very different picture, suggesting that gross domestic product actually grew 2.4 percent.
The contradictory data add to existing concerns that inaccurate statistics could lead to policy missteps as the government and the Bank of Japan strive to find the right measures to strengthen the economy.
The BOJ has stepped up its efforts to get better data, starting a consumption index earlier this year and releasing an in-house version of monthly price data that differs from the numbers issued by the statistics bureau.