Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has announced an emergency relief package worth $103 billion to reduce the economic impact of rising raw material costs.
The package will be combined with further steps to promote long-term reforms, Kishida said.
With upper house elections scheduled for July, the prime minister is under pressure to reduce the financial pressure on households. The relief package aims to mitigate the effects of rising costs with measures such as gasoline subsidies and financial support for low-income families.
The majority of the 13.2-trillion-yen package will be funded by reserves already set aside under the current budget. The government pass a new budget in the current parliament session to replenish reserves, Kishida told a news conference.
The move is in contrast to international trends of phasing out stimulus measures put in place in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and reflects the precarious situation faced by the Japanese economy. Inflation is beginning to snowball, and analysts fear the nation is set for its highest rates since the 1970s.
“We must prevent rising fuel and raw material costs from disrupting a recovery in economic and social activity from the pandemic,” Kishida told a news conference.
The Japanese premier also promised a “comprehensive” package of measures aimed at promoting a carbon-neutral society and focusing on redistribution of wealth. Details of these policies would be laid out after the upper house elections, Kishida said.