TOKYO -- Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's plan to defer a target for putting Japan on a sounder fiscal footing looks unlikely to affect views of the country's creditworthiness at overseas ratings agencies, which hope that the proposed investment in talent will fuel economic growth.
Abe said Monday that he intends to reassign a portion of the proceeds from an October 2019 consumption tax hike to social services including free early childhood education, using funds previously earmarked for whittling down the nation's enormous debt load.
