TOKYO (AFX-ASIA) - Merrill Lynch economist Yoshito Sakakibara said the second quarter GDP number came in just slightly better than consensus, adding that the market focus will shift to policymakers' response to the numbers. The headline figures was "just a touch better than the consensus of around minus 0.9 pct," Sakakibara said. "Consumption surprisingly rose 0.5 pct quarter-on-quarter, which contrasts sharply with the very weak result for household spending in the second quarter," he said. However, he added that the expectation "remains that we will see a weaker GDP based consumption figure in the third quarter. "The market focus will likely quickly move to responses from policymakers, which should trigger more serious debates about a supplementary budget and the reform process going forward."