Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will make the decision on whether to go ahead with a consumption tax hike planned for April 2017 based on the outcome of the Group of Seven summit this May, an aide said Saturday.
"Consumption has remained low because of a tax increase slated for next year. It should be suspended soon," said Etsuro Honda, one of the key architects of the prime minster's Abenomics economic policy, during a television program.
The issue of whether to implement the planned tax rate increase from the current 8 percent to 10 percent has turned into a "competition" between officials supporting the hike and those against it, he said.