[far-east] abe to make higher taxes more palatable

Shinzo Abe is expected to sell government land and buildings, opening up parts of central Tokyo to private developers, and cut spending to help shore up finances. Abe will probably keep the nation's consumption tax for goods and services at 5 percent for as long as possible to help sustain growth should he succeed Junichiro Koizumi, investors like Yuuki Sakurai say. "Abe knows that raising taxes is inevitable, but before any increase he is going to reduce costs as much as possible," said Hiroyoshi Nakagawa, a fund manager at Société Générale Asset Management in Tokyo. Full story Bloomberg.