Struggling Sony to cut pay even as PM Abe calls for higher wages

VICIOUS CYCLE: Sony Corp is unlikely to increase pay next year, in defiance of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push for higher wages to get the economy moving.

TOKYO: Sony Corp is likely to cut average pay next year in a rare move for a big Japanese company, and one that goes against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push for higher wages to get the economy moving. 

For a second year, Abe is pressuring major companies to raise base pay in the fiscal year from April, and boost investment, to kick-start a positive cycle of higher wages, profits and prices to end 15 years of deflation.