Japan Adopts Fresh Economic Package to Tackle Inflation

Tokyo, Oct. 28 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese government, at an extraordinary cabinet meeting Friday, adopted a comprehensive economic package mainly to tackle soaring prices resulting from Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the yen's rapid weakening.

Overall fiscal spending for the package, including fiscal investment and lending, as well as spending by local governments, will reach some 39 trillion yen, while total spending, including private-sector expenses, will come to around 71.6 trillion yen.

"The package will push up Japan's real gross domestic product by 4.6 pct, while pushing down consumer prices by 1.2 pct through the next year," Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told a press conference.

He also stressed that the package includes 6-trillion-yen measures to curb the average family's energy bills by a total of 45,000 yen.

State funds totaling 35.6 trillion yen will be spent for the economic package. General account spending under a second supplementary state budget for fiscal 2022 to fund the package will total around 29.1 trillion yen. The government will also earmark 500 billion yen under a special account.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]