Tokyo, May 20 (IANS): The Japanese economy gathered pace in the first quarter of 2015, registering 0.6 percent growth, the government said on Wednesday.

The gross domestic product beat forecasts to expand at an annualised rate of 2.4 percent, Efe news agency reported citingcabinet office data.

Growth in the quarter doubled from the 0.3 percent growth recorded in the last quarter of 2014, after a slump in the third quarter of that year.

Consumption, which accounts for 60 percent of the country's economy, grew 0.4 percent quarter-on-quarter, while exports, another important pillar of the Japanese economy, grew a significant 2.4 percent.

Capital spending, however, increased by only 0.4 percent, below a forecast of around one percent.

The figures are a boost for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's aggressive economic reform policies, known as "Abenomics".

The government hopes the private sector will increase capital investment and wages to underwrite a sustainable cycle of growth.