Japan's Suga repeats PM to decide on sales tax hike at appropriate time

Government sources told Reuters on Friday the premier was set to delay a national sales tax increase, originally planned in April 2017, due to concern the move could tip the economy back into deflation.

The government has said it would raise the levy as planned unless there was a financial crisis similar to the Lehman collapse or a major natural disaster. In a presentation to his Group of Seven counterparts on Thursday, Abe warned of risks of a Lehman-scale crisis, leading to speculation that he was preparing to delay the tax hike.

(Reporting by Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim)