Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said there was no change to his plan to raise the country’s sales tax hike next year unless the economy is hit by a huge external shock.
“If the economy is hit by a shock on the magnitude of the Lehman crisis, we need to reconsider. Otherwise, we will proceed with the scheduled sales tax hike,” Abe told parliament on Wednesday.
He also said that the government will take steps to counter any damage the higher levy poses on the economy, reports Reuters.
The prime minister of the third-largest economic country of the world has pledged to raise the sales tax to 10 per cent from 8.0 per cent in October next year.