Japan PM Abe says won't insist on sales tax hike if shock hits economy

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Friday it was wrong to insist on proceeding with next year's scheduled sales tax hike if the economy were to be hit by a big shock.

"Our basic stance is that we will proceed with the sales tax hike. But it's wrong to be too rigid and inflexible about this," he told parliament.

Conditions for postponing the tax hike would include a global economic crisis or a huge natural disaster, he added.

(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim)