Japan consumption tax rate increase
The government is on high alert for any possible setbacks based on past trauma. In 1997, when the consumption tax increased from 3 to 5 percent, Japan unexpectedly suffered a brief recession. This will not be the first time Abe has raised the consumption tax. In April 2014, he oversaw a rise to 8 percent from 5 percent. The real GDP growth rate plummeted 7.1 percent over the next three months. Tomohiro Ota, a senior economist at Goldman Sachs Japan,