Japan unveils US$113bil package to beat inflation

The Star

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Thursday (Nov 2) the government will spend over 17 trillion yen (US$113bil) on a package of measures to cushion the economic blow from inflation, which will include tax cuts.  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

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00:00 Japan unveiled major measures to help ease the pain of inflation on Thursday.

00:07 Prime Minister Fumio Kishida set out the plans.

00:12 He said the package would total around $113 billion.

00:16 It includes temporary cuts to income and residential taxes.

00:21 Tokyo will also give payouts to low-income households and subsidies to curb gasoline

00:26 and utility bills.

00:31 By putting together income tax cuts and wage hikes next summer, I want to ensure a situation

00:38 where growth in household income exceeds the pace of inflation.

00:46 The government projects the spending plan will boost Japan's GDP by around 1.2% on

00:52 average over the next three years.

00:54 It said gasoline and utility subsidies will help push down overall consumer inflation

01:00 by about one percentage point.

01:02 Inflation has hurt Japan's economy and stayed above the central bank's target of 2% for

01:07 more than a year.

01:08 But some analysts doubt whether the tax cuts and payouts will help boost consumption and

01:13 economic growth.

01:15 One former Bank of Japan board member expects the measures to lift GDP by just 0.19% for

01:20 the year.

01:21 Other market watchers believe Thursday's measures could worsen the country's already-stretched

01:27 finances.

01:28 The spending may force the government to issue more bonds, adding to Japan's public debt,

01:34 which is the biggest among major economies.

01:37 -END-

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