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62 percent of Japanese distrust "Abenomics": poll

Xinhua, June 13, 2016 Adjust font size:

Over 60 percent of Japanese public showed their doubt about the effectiveness of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic policy mix dubbed "Abenomics," said the latest nationwide poll released on Monday.

The survey conducted by Japan's Kyodo News said that 62.2 percent of the respondents do not believe that the "Abenomics" could improve the country's sluggish economy, while 28 percent of Japanese supported the policy compound.

The prime minister earlier this month postponed again the planned sales tax hike from current 8 percent to 10 percent, citing that global economic situation right now is similar to what in 2008 before the bankruptcy of the Lehman Brothers and weak domestic consumption figures.

Also on Monday, rating agency Fitch has slashed its rating outlook on Japanese government bond from "stable" to "negative" for Abe's decision to delay the consumption tax hike by another 18 months.

The revision "primarily reflects Fitch's decreased confidence in the Japanese authorities' commitment to fiscal consolidation," the agency said in a statement.

Abe aimed at making economic policies a topic during the upcoming upper house election. The election outcome is significant for the revisionist prime minister and his ruling Liberal Democratic Party to launch a motion to revise the country's war-renouncing Constitution.

About the Constitution amendment, the Kyodo poll said that 48.2 percent of the public here oppose any revision under the Abe administration, while 35.9 percent showed their support to revise the Constitution.

Disapproval rate for the prime minister's cabinet increased 2.2 percentage points to 43.5 percent, compared to the supporting rate of 47.8 percent, a 1.6-percentage-point drop from the previous survey earlier this month. Endit