BOJ chief shows supports for planned sales tax hike

Japanese central banker Haruhiko Kuroda on Thursday showed his supports for a planned sales tax hike to be carried out next year, saying the central bank will be difficult to handle a potential fall in government bond prices without the hike. In a press conference after a two-day policy meeting of the central bank, the Bank of Japan (BOJ), the BOJ governor said that the government and the central bank could use their fiscal and monetary policies to boost economy, even if the hike is carried out. But the central banker said that the government needs to carefully consider both the risks of conducting the hike as scheduled and these of postponing it. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he will decide on the issue after examining economic data. Kuroda expressed his confidence in the Japanese economy, saying improvements in income and employment are increasing household spending, adding consumer prices are gradually rising as expected. He said that the BOJ will monitor the impacts of the tensions in Syria on financial market, such as rising prices of crude oil. The BOJ Thursday said that Japan's economy is "recovering moderately" and upgraded its assessment of the economy for first time in two months, saying solid consumer spending and recovering corporate spending helped recover the economy. Meanwhile, the central bank said it will continue its aggressive monetary easing policy introduced in April, adding it will conduct market operations to increase the monetary base at an annual pace of about 60 trillion to 70 trillion yen (about 601.38 billion to 701.61 billion U.S. dollars).