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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Tuesday that he would delay a planned rise in the nation’s sales tax to 10 per cent till April 2017 and call a snap election to seek a fresh mandate, just two years after taking office.
The economy unexpectedly slipped into recession in the third quarter, data released on Monday showed, a sign the pain from an initial rise in the sales tax to 8 per cent from 5 per cent in April was lasting longer than expected.
No general election need be held until late 2016. But political insiders say Abe — who returned to power in December 2012 pledging to fix the economy with his “Abenomics’’ strategy of ultra-loose monetary policy, spending and reforms — wants to lock in his mandate, while his ratings are relatively high and before tackling unpopular policies next year.
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