Dec. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Japan's Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Hiroko Ota said rising oil prices are hurting companies' profits and discouraging them from spending on factories and equipment.

Ota was speaking at a press conference in Tokyo today after the Cabinet Office reported Japan's third-quarter growth was slower than initially estimated.

The world's second-largest economy grew an annualized 1.5 percent in the three months ended Sept. 30 after a 1.6 percent contraction in the previous period, the Cabinet Office said in Tokyo today. The median estimate of 25 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for growth to be unchanged from the government's preliminary estimate of 2.6 percent.

To contact the reporter on this story: Toru Fujioka in Tokyo at tfujioka1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 6, 2007 20:04 EST