& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Japan's Oct-Dec GDP seen lower
TOKYO. Mar 3: Japan's economy technically slipped into recession in the latter half of last year, dragged down by a protracted slump in consumption. but the recovery has not been derailed, economists said, reports Reuters.
AU 19 economists surveyed this week expected the world's second largest economy lo have posted a decline in the October-December quarter of last year, with their median forecast indicating a 1.1 per cent drop from the prior quarter.
Their forecasts for the contraction ranged from 0.2 per cent to 1.9 per cent.
The Economic Planning Agency (EPA) is due to announce gross domestic product (GDP) data for the period in mid-March. EPA chief Taichi Sakaiya has said October-December GDP was likely to have fallen from the July-September period, which also recorded a decline of 1.0 per cent.
A second consecutive quarter of decline would meet the conventional definition of a recession. but economists said the economy was heading toward recover}’, albeit gradually.
"We will likely see two quarters in a row of contraction due lo weak personal spending, but production is rising and share
prices are firm. I don't think we should call it a recession.' said Shinichiro Kobayashi, economist at Sanwa Research Institute.
In ihe first quarter of this year, the economy is expected to rebound with 1.2 per cent growth from ihe previous quarter. according to the survey s median forecast.
Economists said that a drop In winter bonus payments, job insecurity and Jitters about the millennium computer bug put a damper on year-end shopping, and many said they have recently lowered their GDP forecasts due lo weaker-than-ex-pected personal consumption in late 1999.
Personal consumption accounts for 60 per cent of GDP and this long-suffering portion of the economy has been blamed for Japan's difficulty in pulling out of its worst post-war recession.
. Support from massive government spending was expected to have faded during the October-December period, with the effects of public works spending in an extra budget for the fiscal year to March not likely lo kick in until early to mid-2000, economists said.
On the bright side, corporate capital spending, an indispens-
able engine of any private-sector recovery, is expected to have bottomed out and to start picking up. they added.
Economists now await the Finance Ministry's corporate survey due out next Thursday for a final hint in gauging the capital expenditure component of GDP.
Despite an apparent downturn in the second half of 1999, economists expected a gradual pickup in the economy in the January-March quarter and beyond, with all but one forecasting growth in the 1999/00 and 2000/01 fiscal years.
Economists said personal spending, although still fragile, is likely to improve from January on. while brighter signs are expected to emerge in corporate profits and capital spending.
And even if the October-December GDP data technically puts the economy in a recession. as expected, the government is likely to reiterate that the economic reality is quite different.
The EPA's Sakaiya on Wednesday expressed confidence about the prospects for Japan's economy, saying he expected it to embark on a fuU-fledged recovery around September.