Abe tries to delay balancing budget without spooking markets, G-20 partners

Tokyo

JAPANESE premier Shinzo Abe is looking to quietly ditch a pledge to balance the budget by fiscal 2020 in favour of a looser debt-to-GDP ratio target, a move that gives him a free hand to delay again an unpopular sales tax hike, government sources say.

Any fiscal slippage would mean Japan keeping its money printing presses running longer, and would break a commitment to G-20 countries. That could risk provoking fresh accusations of currency manipulation from the United States and other G-20 countries if they saw Japan's move as a further attempt to keep the yen weak.