Mike had the breaking headline during European hours yesterday, but here’s a little more detail.
- According to a government source, Japanese PM Shinzo Abe won’t announce his decision on whether to raise the consumption tax until October 2.
- He will take into account the results of the next Bank of Japan “tankan” business sentiment survey
Abe said Tuesday that he wants to look at the tankan, due out Oct. 1, as “the last economic indicator” before making up his mind in “early October,” according to economic and fiscal policy minister Akira Amari
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The BOJ release its Tankan survey each quarter (here’s a summary of the most recent)
The results of the next survey will be released on October 1. Reuters conduct their own Tankan survey (latest summary, here) each month, so we will be watching these closely in coming months ahead of October 1.
More on the Japanese sales tax hike debate can be found here.
- The current plan is that the 5% sales tax would be hiked to 8% in April 2014 and to 10% in October 2015
Japanese PM Shinzo Abe listening to the BOJ Tankan podcast
