Tokyo- The Japanese government's general-account tax revenue is now expected to fall for the first time in seven years for fiscal 2016, dealing another blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic policy, informed sources told Jiji Press on Friday.

Since he made a comeback as prime minister in late 2012, Abe has highlighted tax revenue increases, partly backed by improving corporate earnings, as an achievement of his reflationary policy mix dubbed "Abenomics."

During fiscal 2016, which ended in March, the Abe administration aggressively promoted fiscal stimulus while further pushing off a planned consumption tax hike.

Under its third fiscal 2016 supplementary budget approved by parliament in January, the government cut its annual tax revenue forecast to 55,860 billion yen and decided to additionally issue deficit-covering bonds totaling 1,751.2 billion yen.

However, tax revenue for the year is now seen even falling below the forecast, by some hundreds of billions of yen, according to the sources.

The expected dismal result can be attributed to slower growth in corporate tax revenue on the yen's strengthening, as well as a fall in income tax revenue, the sources said. (Jiji Press)