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To: shades who wrote (60143)	5/2/2006 3:40:21 PM
From: shades	Respond to of 110194

BOJ Amends Method To Gauge GDP Gap, Potential Growth Rate (Haha - just change the way you do your accounting - that will make the numbers work - I love these guys - they are so entertaining - HAHA) TOKYO (Dow Jones)--Japanese gross domestic product gap and potential economic growth figures that were cited in the Bank of Japan's outlook report released last week were due to a revised calculation method, a central bank paper said Tuesday. The central bank said Friday in its outlook report on economy and prices that the conditions of persistent oversupply have been dispersed and the gross domestic product gap, or the output gap, seems to have closed. The output gap is the difference between potential and actual real GDP, expressed as a percentage of potential real GDP. The BOJ also said the potential growth rate for Japan's economy is now in the 1.5-2% range, up from around the 1% zone that it had been in since the late 1990s. "The BOJ made the overall revision in the method of estimating these figures, in light of the revisions and re-basing of GDP data," the central bank said. The new calculation method factors in structural changes that have become visible in the labor market over the past few years, such as the growing ratio of part-time workers. It also tweaked the GDP gap figures so that they take either positive or negative numbers to be in line with the majority of central banks in the world, the BOJ said. Under the new calculation method, "moves in the GDP gap since the late 1990s were revised considerably upward," the central bank said. The revised figures showed that the latest GDP gap is above the level in 2000, when it last peaked, to be close to the level in 1997, whereas it was still below the 2000 level under the old method, the BOJ said. "The moves of GDP gap shown by the revised figures are generally in line with" the trend shown in the central bank's quarterly tankan survey, the central bank said. The paper was authored by BOJ officials and doesn't necessarily represent the central bank's views. -By Michiyo Seki, Dow Jones Newswires; 813-5255-2929; michiyo.seki@dowjones.com -Edited by Shawn Schroter (END) Dow Jones Newswires May 02, 2006 04:13 ET (08:13 GMT) Copyright (c) 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.- - 04 13 AM EDT 05-02-06