TOKYO: Japan is set to revamp how it measures gross domestic product data in the coming years by better incorporating new consumption trends such as the sharing economy and chasnging quality of education and medical services, officials said on Monday.
The move comes in response to criticism the country’s economic data fails to grasp actual economic activity as analysts see the components lagging behind changing trends of private consumption that accounts for some 60 percent of the economy. “With the economic structure rapidly changing, how to measure the sharing economy and digital economy in particular has become an urgent issue in Japan as well as other countries,” Shuji Hasegawa, executive research fellow at the Cabinet Office, told reporters on Monday. Through a series of reforms on economic indicators, the government also aims to address long-standing concerns about data accuracy, volatility, sampling and collection methods. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has ordered his government to revamp major economic indicators that could affect key policy decisions such as a sales tax hike. Abe twice delayed a planned tax rise to 10 percent from 8 percent after the first hike to 8 percent from 5 percent in 2014 dealt a blow to consumption.
