Quakes May Sway Japan's Abe to Boost Spending, Delay Tax Hike
- Former BOJ director says snap general election less likely
- `We will take all necessary measures,' Abe tells parliament
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A deadly series of large earthquakes in southern Japan may add to the case for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to increase fiscal stimulus and postpone a planned increase in the nation’s sales tax.
Abe has said only an economic shock on the scale of the 2008 global financial crisis or the 2011 quake and tsunami in the country’s northeast would justify delaying the levy hike. Even before this latest disaster, advisers and influential economists had been calling on to Abe hold off raising the tax.