Japan's Abe: Must avoid hurting recovery with sales tax rise
[TOKYO] Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Friday the government must avoid derailing an economic recovery when deciding whether to proceed with a sales tax increase next year.
"We have no plan to abandon our goal of restoring Japan's finances. But in order to achieve fiscal reform, we need to get the economy growing and end deflation," Mr Abe said in a television programme.
Mr Abe said there was no change to his plan of deciding by the end of this year whether to raise the sales tax to 10 per cent from 8 per cent in October 2015. The levy was raised to 8 per cent from 5 per cent in April this year.
REUTERS
BT is now on Telegram!
For daily updates on weekdays and specially selected content for the weekend. Subscribe to t.me/BizTimes
International
World food prices up in April for second month, says UN agency
Heatwave swells Asia's appetite for air-conditioning
Labour wins UK by-election as Tory PM Sunak stares at more losses
South Korea to slap fines on food suppliers for ‘shrinkflation’
Stormy Daniels’ ex-lawyer in the hot seat at Trump trial
New Zealand says ‘seriously concerned’ by China’s increased security actions in Pacific