The government should study specific steps to cushion the economic impact of the planned consumption tax hike in 2019, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said.
"We will need to consider specific measures to control fluctuations in the economy, such as a drop in demand following (an expected) last-minute surge due to the consumption tax hike," Abe told a policymaking panel at his office on Tuesday.
He made the remark after private-sector members of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy proposed that the government include ways to limit the adverse impact on spending in a state budget for the fiscal year that starts in April 2019.