Tuesday, March 15, 2005 | 9:17 a.m.
TOKYO -- The mild recession that Japan fell into last year has not only ended, but it did not last as long as previously reported, new figures released on Monday showed.
The government revised its data for the fourth quarter of 2004 to an annualized growth rate of 0.5 percent, from a preliminary estimate of a 0.5 percent decline.
The new figures showed that the moderate recession that began last April lasted only two quarters, not three quarters as the government said previously.
The revision brings the official measure of Japan's gross domestic product more closely in line with the assessments of economists who have argued that the government painted too gloomy a picture of the economy.
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