The Cabinet Office has decided to revise upward its economic assessment for January and may declare the first "recovery" in three years, according to government sources.
The sources said the Cabinet Office's decision to upgrade its assessment from December and pronounce a recovery reflects brisk exports to Asia and the United States as well as surging domestic production.
The Cabinet Office is now working hard to characterize the uptrend in its monthly report. The last economic "recovery" was in January 2001, in the middle of the information technology-inflated bubble economy.
Economic and fiscal policy minister Heizo Takenaka will submit the monthly economic report to a meeting Monday of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and other members of his Cabinet tasked with economic affairs.
The Cabinet Office in November upgraded its assessment of the economy for the first time in two months, citing rising exports and production aided by a strong recovery in the U.S. economy. But it left the December assessment untouched as the aggravating employment situation offset rises in exports and falls in the number of bankruptcies.
The government is apparently eager to formally declare the economic recovery on Monday when the Diet begins a 150-day session, according to economic analysts.