Japan industry minister Nishimura is on the wires saying:
- Must be careful about tax hikes for defence buildup not to curb investment, wage hikes.
Meanwhile FM Sukuki adds:
- difficult to treat bond issuance as a stable funding sources for defence spending
- cannot say any specific details on tax hikes to fund defence spending
- must stick to aim of achieving primary budget surplus goal
On Wednesday, Liberal Democratic Party’s policy chief Koichi Hagiuda, that the government would not raise taxes in the next fiscal year when the five-year defence spending plan kicks off. He added “We must curb spending (in other areas) and make every effort. If that’s not enough, we must consider tax (hikes).”
PM Fumio Kishida has announced plans to lift defence spending to 2% of gross domestic product from 1% now. Concerns about China and North Korea aggression as well as geopolitical risks from Ukraine crisis.
/inflation
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