The economy remains on a mild recovery track despite a long-delayed upturn in consumer spending and the slowing of growth in industrial output, the government said Friday.

"Although the Japanese economy has not yet got out of the severe situation of meager improvements in the household sector, activities on the whole continue to rise modestly," the Cabinet Office said in a monthly report.

In the report, which is the official verdict on the economy, the description of the recovery remained the same for the third consecutive month.