The International Monetary Fund will cut its forecast for Japan's gross domestic product for 2001 to a contraction of a real 0.2 per cent from a growth of 0.6 per cent, an international monetary source said today.
The IMF also plans to lower its projection for Japan's real GDP growth in 2002 to 0.5 per cent from 1.5 per cent, the source said.
The IMF will announce the revisions on Friday, he added.
The revisions were decided last Friday after the IMF's executive board approved a staff report on Japan's economy which took a dimmer view on growth, the source said.
He added that growth outlook for virtually all major economies will likely be downgraded ahead of the IMF's general meeting in September.
