Tokyo - Japan's government Friday lowered its figures for second-quarter economic growth from a preliminary estimate of 0.9 per cent to 0.6 per cent, owing mainly to falls in inventory and capital investment.

The revisited data translates to an annualized growth of the gross domestic product of 2.3 per cent, from a preliminary estimate of 3.7 per cent released last month, the Cabinet Office said.

Although lower than predicted, the figures show that the world's second largest economy is creeping out of its worst recession since the end of World War II.

Lower inventories may be a positive sign as they could indicate an uptick in production later in the year, analysts said, but they expressed fears that the moderate recovery could be hampered by rising unemployment and low capital spending, in particular by the time government stimulus programmes run out.

The increase in capital spending was revised downwards by 0.5 per cent to 4.3 per cent from the previous quarter. Private consumption, which makes up about 55 per cent of Japan's GDP, rose also less than expected, the increase revised downwards from 0.8 per cent to 0.7 per cent. (dpa)