International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde on Thursday urged Japan to make sure that an increase scheduled for next year in the nationwide consumption tax does not hurt the country's economic growth."We believe that the higher consumption tax will help fund growing health and pension expenses, and support fiscal consolidation," Lagarde told a press conference in Tokyo following an annual consultation with the Japanese government."However, we also recommend that the 2019 consumption tax increase be accompanied by carefully designed mitigating measures to protect near-term reflation …READ FULL ARTICLE
