Japan Govt Planning 21.3-T.-Yen Comprehensive Economic Package

Tokyo, Nov. 20 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government plans to set the size of its upcoming comprehensive economic package, including large-scale tax reductions, at 21.3 trillion yen, it was learned Thursday. The government will adopt the package at a cabinet meeting as early as Friday. General-account expenditures under the government’s planned fiscal 2025 supplementary budget, which will finance measures in the package, will be around 17.7 trillion yen, exceeding the fiscal 2024 supplementary budget worth around 13.9 trillion yen to hit a new post-pandemic high. Including related spending by the private sector, the package will be worth around 42.8 trillion yen. Under the package, the government will provide 7,000 yen in total for an average household as subsidies for electricity and gas bills between January and March, up significantly from its aid of 3,000 yen offered between July and September. Also, the government will expand an existing priority support local grant program that allows regional governments to flexibly decide how to use the funds to counter rising prices, creating a special category for measures to tackle soaring food prices, such as the utilization of rice vouchers and electronic coupons. The government plans a budget allocation of around 400 billion yen to increase child allowances by 20,000 yen per child aged zero to 18 as a one-time measure. Furthermore, the package will include a tax break worth 1.2 trillion yen per year through the hike in the minimum annual taxable income level to 1.6 million yen and that worth 1.5 trillion yen per year through the abolition of the provisional gasoline and gas oil tax surcharges. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]