Japan PM Abe: Will raise sales tax barring severe shock

March 28, 2016 11:10 PM EDT

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks at a news conference a day before Japan remembers the victims of the March 11, 2011 triple disaster at his official residence in Tokyo, Japan, March 10, 2016. REUTERS/Toru Hanai

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Tuesday he will proceed with a scheduled sales tax hike next year unless the economy is hit by a shock on the scale of the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008 or the massive earthquake that struck in 2011.

He also told parliament that he was "not thinking at all" about dissolving the lower house and calling a snap election.

A Reuters poll showed many analysts expect Abe to delay raising the sales tax to 10 percent from 8 percent in April next year as weak consumption and exports threaten to derail a fragile economic recovery.

(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim)



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