The still-faltering economy, hit hard by April's consumption tax hike as well as bad weather last summer, is forecast to grow only modestly in fiscal 2015 despite the Abe administration's latest economic stimulus package.
"I would expect positive growth (for the fiscal year starting in April), but I don't think it will reach 2 percent," said Yasunari Ueno, chief market economist at Mizuho Securities Co.
Many economists such as Ueno see Japan's real gross domestic product shrinking by about 0.5 percent in fiscal 2014, which will end this March 31, before growing between 1.5 percent and 2 percent in the following fiscal year.
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