Japan Drafts Economic Package as PM Eyes Active Spending

Tokyo, Nov. 13 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government has drafted a comprehensive economic package as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is pursuing “responsible and active fiscal policy.” On Thursday, the government presented the draft to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. It plans to adopt the package by the end of this month. According to the draft, the package will include expanding subsidies for local governments to distribute rice and shopping vouchers to households amid the rising cost of living. The subsidies will also be used to help small businesses raise wages. The government will also raise the ceiling on “Flat 35” long-term, fixed-rate housing loans. On Wednesday, several private-sector members of the government’s Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy said at a council meeting that the size of a supplementary budget to finance the economic package should exceed the fiscal 2024 level of 13.9 trillion yen. At an LDP meeting on Thursday, party lawmakers called for an extra budget of around 20 trillion yen. “From my point of view, there is still a gap between us and fiscal authorities,” LDP policy chief Takayuki Kobayashi said. Regarding how to fund the extra budget, Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama has suggested that she would tolerate an increase in government bond issuance. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]