TOKYO - The Japanese government on Friday lowered its economic growth forecast for fiscal 2011 to 0.5 percent -- one percentage point lower than previous estimates, local media reported.

But the Cabinet Office also estimated that real gross domestic product would grow by more than 2.5 percent the following year, with domestic demand aided by reconstruction, Kyodo News said.

Private consumption which accounts for nearly 60 percent of the country's GDP was projected to contract 0.2 percent during the current fiscal year through next March.

In December last year, a growth of 1.5 percent in actual terms was forecast for the current fiscal year.