TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to announce a delay to next year's proposed sales tax hike to prevent a blow to the economy, when he speaks to members of the media on Wednesday.
The press engagement comes days after the prime minister pitched the proposed delay to fellow members of the ruling party and. The prime minister's office said Abe will hold a press conference at 0900 GMT on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the country's lower house of parliament defeated a no-confidence motion against Abe's cabinet, submitted by opposition parties to criticise the "Abenomics" economic policies and other plans before a July upper house election.
Opposition parties argue Abe's decision to postpone for 2-1/2 years a rise in the nation's sales tax to 10 percent - scheduled for April 2017 - is an admission his efforts to reboot the stale economy have not only failed but also increased inequality.
"Prime Minister Abe, it is an unshakable fact that, because of your grave failure in economic policy, you have been unable to create an environment in which the sale tax can be raised," opposition Democratic Party leader Katsuya Okada said in parliament.
"People's lives were destroyed, and inequality and poverty are spreading."
The opposition parties also criticised security legislation enacted last year that they say violates Japan's pacifist constitution. The legal changes clear the way for Japan's military to fight overseas in defence of a friendly country.
The no-confidence motion was handily rejected by Abe's ruling coalition, which has a two-thirds "super" majority in the house.
Abe first delayed the sales tax rise and called a snap election for the lower house in December 2014, and speculation had simmered that he would do so again in tandem with the scheduled July election for the upper chamber.
Top ruling Liberal Democratic Party officials had warned that the mere submission of a no-confidence motion could prompt Abe to call a snap election, but a senior ruling party official said on Monday he believed the prime minister had no such plan.
Abe told ruling party officials on Monday that he plans to postpone next year's sales tax hike to avoid hurting the economy's fragile recovery.
Consumption has yet to recover after Japan fell into recession when Abe raised the sales tax to 8 percent from 5 percent in April 2014 in an effort to curb government debt.
Abe's support rates rose to just over 55 percent after he hosted a Group of Seven summit last week and accompanied U.S. President Barack Obama on a historic visit to Hiroshima.
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