OREANDA-NEWS. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) called on Japan to increase the consumer tax rate from 10 to 20% by 2050 to cover the rising costs of social security due to aging societies. This is stated in the regulator’s statement issued on Monday following a visit to Japan by its head Kristalina Georgieva. "The IMF scenario suggests that to finance the costs of aging, it's necessary to gradually increase the consumption tax rate - up to 15% in 2030 and up to 20% in 2050. Based on what other countries have done, we think over time Japan will be able to rely more on consumer tax", it says.

Starting from October 1, the Japanese government raised the consumption tax from 8 to 10%. This was the second stage of tax reform initiated by the Cabinet led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The previous increase from 5% to 8% was carried out in April 2014. Initially, it was assumed that the 10% mark would be reached in 2015, but local authorities several times postponed an extremely unpopular measure, citing the lack of preparedness of the economy.

Raising the consumer tax in Tokyo is considered as one of the ways to reduce the gigantic public debt, the size of which has declined in recent years to less than $ 10 trillion, but still remained more than double the GDP.