Tokyo / AFP Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to postpone a sales tax hike a second time, judging that boosting the tariff could hurt the world’s third-largest economy, a newspaper said on Saturday. Abe has already informed senior government officials he plans delay the consumption tax hike, scheduled for next April; that would raise levy from eight to …

  Jakarta / WAM Bank Indonesia reported the country’s current account deficit narrowed to US$4.7 billion or 2.1 percent of its gross domestic products (GDP) in the first quarter of this year from US$5.1 billion or 2.4 percent of the GDP in the previous three months period. The central bank attributed the improvement in current account performance to growing surplus …

  Washington / AFP The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that it is considering new financial support for the Afghanistan government as the country’s economy continues to stumble. The IMF lauded the country’s gains under a just-concluded IMF-monitored program to close vulnerabilities with reforms in the government budget process and in the financial sector. “Despite difficult circumstances, the authorities implemented …