Japan's economy contracted less than initially thought in the last quarter of 2015, revised data showed today, as corporate spending picked up, although the outlook for this year remained bleak.
The Japanese Cabinet Office said gross domestic product shrank 0.3% in the three months from October to December, not quite as bad as an original estimate of a 0.4% contraction.
The new figures mean that the world's number three economy expanded 0.5% last year, compared to an earlier 0.4% estimate.
But the modest changes offer little in the way of hope for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's faltering bid to put Japan on a firm recovery path.
The weak data also boost the chances of more easing measures from the Bank of Japan to prop up the economy. The central bank holds a policy meeting next week.
The latest GDP figures point to an improvement in business spending and exports, but spending by shoppers at home remains weak with firms reluctant to boost salaries.
The lack of spending is a big hurdle for Tokyo's growth bid and the central bank's efforts to stoke lasting inflation.
In January, the Bank of Japan shocked markets by resorting to an unprecedented negative interest rate policy, which aims to boost lending by penalising banks for storing excess reserves in its vaults.
The move was widely panned as a desperate bid to counter Japan's slowdown after earlier monetary easing efforts failed to cement a sustained recovery in the economy.
Analysts said the Bank of Japan next week could lower rates further into negative territory and step up the pace of their assets purchases - both aimed at injecting life into the limp economy.
With his growth programme limping along and the Bank of Japan struggling to hit its ambitious 2% inflation target, Abe must decide whether to follow through with another sales tax hike next year.
The rise is seen as crucial to containing Japan's massive national debt, but it could dent consumer spending and hurt an already fragile economy.
A consumption tax hike in 2014 pushed Japan into a brief recession.
Abe's programme was also shaken by the steep falls on equity markets at the start of this year and a resurgent yen, which threatened to dent companies' overseas profits.
