• Focus is on benefits for low-income households, subsidies for utility bills and aid for the disaster-hit Noto Peninsula in central Japan

TOKYO: The Japanese government on Friday adopted an economic package focusing on benefits for low-income households, subsidies for utility bills and aid for the disaster-hit Noto Peninsula in central Japan.

The government will assemble a fiscal 2024 supplementary budget to finance the economic package, earmarking around 13.9 trillion yen in general-account spending. Including related spending by the private sector, the economic package is worth around 39 trillion.

For the latest economic package, the amount of general-account spending and its total size both exceed those in last year’s package.

Total fiscal spending, including under special government accounts, is expected to reach about 21.9 trillion yen for the latest package.

The package also includes assistance for cutting-edge industries and plans to raise the minimum annual taxable income from 1.03 million yen in order to increase take-home pay.

It comprises three pillars — overcoming inflation, securing citizens’ safety and security, and promoting growth in the Japanese and regional economies.

Among measures to tackle inflation, the government will offer subsidies for electricity and city gas bills in January-March 2025, and continue subsidies for gasoline beyond the end of this year, albeit on a smaller scale.

It will give 30,000 yen each to low-income households exempted from residential tax payments, with an additional 20,000 yen for each child.

JIJI Press