Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Saturday that he is not considering a snap general election this summer to coincide with a scheduled Upper House poll, and that he has no intention of delaying a planned increase in the nation's consumption tax.
Speaking in an interview aired on a Nippon Broadcasting System Inc. radio program, Abe said he would raise the levy to 10 percent in April 2017 unless there was a big economic shock on the scale of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, or a major earthquake. "At this point," he said, "it's not at a Lehman-shock level, but it is necessary to keep carefully monitoring the economy."
The world's third-largest economy contracted in the final three months of 2015, with the misery compounded by data that showed exports in January fell the most since 2009. Wage gains have stagnated, consumer prices are barely rising and households are reluctant to spend. This year, the Topix index has plunged more than 16 percent and the yen has gained against the dollar amid concerns over China's slowdown and U.S. growth.