OECD backs Japan tax hike and more easy money

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe delivers a speech at a seminar in Tokyo on September 19, 2014. - AFP

TOKYO: Japan should raise sales taxes again next year despite wobbles in the economy caused by the first rise, and the central bank should cushion the blow with more easy money, the OECD said.

The Bank of Japan must do more “beyond 2015” to support the world’s number three economy, said Rintaro Tamaki, deputy secretary-general of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).