Japan Seen Needing $50 Billion Package to Cushion Tax Rise

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, now sitting on the biggest parliamentary majority in six years, faces the threat of political dissent within months as a planned sales-tax rise threatens to arrest an economic rebound.

The world’s third-largest economy has 30 percent odds of tipping into the fourth recession since 2008 should Abe bump the consumption levy to 8 percent in April from 5 percent, according to the median of 23 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. He’ll need a 5 trillion yen ($50 billion) fiscal package to cushion the impact of the increase, the survey showed.