Tokyo - Mazda Motor Corp, Japan's fourth-largest carmaker and second-largest car exporter, Thursday scaled back the losses it expects to incur this fiscal year as it cut costs and tax liabilities.

The predicted loss for the year ending March 31 was 17 billion yen (188 million dollars), compared with an October 5 estimate of 26 billion yen.

The Hiroshima-based manufacturer said it expected sales to fall 16 per cent from the past fiscal year to 2.1 trillion yen.

Mazda, like other carmakers, is suffering from reduced demand brought on by the global economic downturn and has been especially hard-hit in its biggest markets. As a result, it is cutting costs and capacity.

For its second quarter, Mazda reported its first net profit in four quarters, saying it made 707 million yen from July to September, down from 14.5 billion yen a year earlier.

For the first half of its fiscal year, Mazda recorded a 20.8-billion-yen net loss, compared with a profit of 29.5 billion yen a year earlier.

Its half-year sales fell 37 per cent to 990.3 billion yen. (dpa)