Japan agrees on timetable to overhaul macroeconomic data

Tokyo

JAPAN'S government has taken a large step towards an overhaul of its most important macroeconomic data to address long-standing concerns about volatility, collection methods, sample quality and accuracy.

A timetable agreed by a government panel of private-sector economists on Tuesday said improvements in statistical calculations of household spending and capital expenditure used in gross domestic product (GDP) should start from the end of 2017.