Japan firms overwhelmingly want Abe to delay tax hike

Of the 250 Japanese firms answering Reuters poll questions on the sales tax hike to 10% in 2015, 72% said the world's third biggest economy cannot cope with the planned tax hike next year - AFP Photo.

TOKYO: Japanese companies overwhelmingly want Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to delay or scrap a planned tax increase, a Reuters poll shows, highlighting concerns that it could derail a fragile economic recovery.

As expectations grow that Abe will soon announce he is putting off the unpopular measure, the Reuters Corporate Survey found that nearly three in four big companies think the economy is too weak to weather the increase as scheduled in October 2015.