Japan’s Kishida reveals extra measures to cope with inflation after Cabinet revamp

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Friday that his government will take fresh measures to ease the pain of rising prices, with inflation a top priority for his reshuffled Cabinet amid deteriorating public support.

Kishida said price hikes, particularly for energy and food items, are having a “huge impact” on companies and consumers, telling a government meeting that he will instruct officials on Monday to implement relief steps “seamlessly”.

Rising energy, raw material and grain prices, largely attributed to Russia’s war in Ukraine, have been dealing a blow to the world’s third-largest economy.

The government has already announced a series of inflation-relief measures, including subsidies intended to bring down retail petrol prices, to aid farmers hit by surging fertiliser costs, and to keep the price of imported wheat that the government sells from rising above levels before the war began in February.

“Bread and noodles, which are made from wheat, are essential items in our daily lives. It’s critical that their prices are stable,” Kishida said at the meeting, attended by newly appointed Cabinet ministers and business leaders.