Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda said Monday that the impact of a sales tax increase scheduled for April 2017 would be much less than that which resulted from the hike in 2014 — sending Japan into a recession.

"The effect of the sales tax hike will be about a bit more than half of what it was last time," Kuroda said in response to questions from the audience following a speech in Tokyo.

"Front-loaded spending and a following drop in demand won't be as big as the last time" because the overall increase is smaller than in 2014 and reduced tax rates will be applied on some items this time, he said.