Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa gave a cautious assessment Friday of the nation's reported economic growth of 1.9 percent in the January-March quarter.

"Japan's economy has not (necessarily) improved," Miyazawa told a regular news conference, adding that the latest gross domestic product figure only showed an expansion from the dismal October-December quarter.

He disagreed with the idea that economic stimulus measures may not be needed for the time being, but he hopes the economy will edge up every quarter in fiscal 1999, which ends next March.

He cautioned against the statistical "trick" of making the yearly GDP growth higher if the final quarter in the preceding fiscal year is higher than that year's average.

"It does not particularly mean the Japanese economy will improve," he said.

Given that the 1.9 percent quarterly growth far exceeded the average in fiscal 1998, the economy can statistically grow by 0.5 percent in fiscal 1999, even if each quarter posts a minus 0.2 percent, according to the Economic Planning Agency.

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi pledged to achieve 0.5 percent growth this fiscal year.

On the newly prepared government package to bolster employment and industrial competitiveness, Miyazawa said an extra budget for creating jobs could amount to some 500 billion yen.

But no budgetary support will be needed for the structural reform of industries for the time being, he said.