+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
BN 12/29 02:12 *ABE SAYS RELATIONS WITH CHINA ONE OF JAPAN'S MOST IMPORTANT BN 12/29 02:10 *ABE SAYS JAPAN STILL ONLY HALF WAY TO ENDING DEFLATION BN 12/29 02:08 *ABE: TO STUDY 2014 3Q DATA TO DECIDE ON SALES TAX RISE TO 10%
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Abe: to Study 2014 3Q Data to Decide on Sales Tax Rise to 10% 2013-12-29 02:29:43.413 GMT
By Toru Fujioka Dec. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the government will study July-September economic data before deciding on whether to increase the sales tax to 10%, to see whether the economy is recovering from the April levy boost to 8%. * Abe said Japan is only half way done in its goal of ending deflation, and if the current opportunity isn’t seized, the nation won’t be able to fix its fiscal health * Abe said Japan’s relations with China are one of its most important, and South Korea is also “an important neighbor” * Abe said nations must avoid causing “one problem” to affect everything else * NOTE: Radio Nippon said the interview was recorded on Dec. 24. That’s before Abe visited Yasukuni Shrine on Dec. 26 that memorializes war-dead including World War II criminals
For Related News and Information: First Word scrolling panel: {FIRST<GO>} First Word newswire: {NH BFW<GO>}
To contact the reporter on this story: Toru Fujioka in Tokyo at +81-3-3201-2158 or tfujioka1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Ken McCallum at +81-3-3201-8857 or kmccallum4@bloomberg.net