Tokyo - Sony Corp was expected to close a television manufacturing plant and cut 2,000 full-time jobs in Japan as it prepares to report the first operating loss in 14 years amid the global economic downturn, The Nikkei business daily said Thursday.

As a cost-cutting effort, the Japanese home electronics giant earlier announced its plan to dismiss more than 16,000 workers in and outside Japan.

Sony was expected to incur a loss of about 100 billion yen (1.11 billion dollars) for this fiscal year, which ends March 31, as it suffers slow sales of flat-screen televisions.

Sony lowered its projection of its operating profit for the fiscal year from an initial estimate of 520 billion yen to 470 billion yen in July and then to 200 billion yen in October.

The company was to officially announce its plan and the outlook of earnings for fiscal 2008 later in the day. A spokeswoman refused to comment further on the issue.//dpa