Sales tax slump hits Japan GDP
THE JAPANESE economy slumped in the second quarter, with the impact of the first sales tax rise in 17 years.
The country’s GDP plunged 1.7 per cent from the first quarter, more than erasing the 1.5 per cent expansion recorded in the first three months. In April, Japan’s sales tax was hiked from five to eight per cent.
However, Genzo Kimura of SuMi Trust said that consumption had “already entered into its recovery phase” in the months since April.