News Japanese government approves 29-trillion-yen stimulus package

• Some 12.2 trillion JPY to help reduce the burden of higher electricity bills and enable companies to raise wages.
• About 4.8 trillion JPY to promote tourism and expand exports.
• About 6.7 trillion JPY to accelerate moves toward "a new capitalism" by setting up reskilling and other programs to invest in personnel, dealing with the declining birthrate, and helping to move toward a carbon-neutral society.
• Some 10.6 trillion JPY earmarked for disaster management, public works projects and economic and food security.

Starting in January, for example, the average household should see energy-related costs -- electricity, gas and gasoline -- fall by about 5,000 yen ($35). Such measures "will lower consumer prices by at least 1.2% over the next year," Kishida said. [...] Preliminary data released on Friday by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications showed that the core consumer price index -- all items minus perishable food -- in the Tokyo metropolitan area rose 3.4% in October from a year earlier, up from 2.8% in September and the highest since 1989. [...] Electricity prices were up 26.9%, while prices of grains rose 10.5% and imported pork increased 7.4%. A leading indicator for nationwide inflation, the latest Tokyo data suggests the country's inflation accelerated this month, as consumer-serving businesses raise prices to cope with higher expenses. In October alone, price hikes were planned for about 6,700 food items, according to a survey by Tokyo-based research firm Teikoku Databank, with many companies attributing the hikes to the weak yen.

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