Japan Soon To Unveil 53 Billion Stimulus Package

Japan will craft an economic stimulus package this week worth about $53 billion to bolster the economy ahead of an increase in the national sales tax in April, people familiar with the process said on Tuesday.

The size of the package, ordered in October by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, will be between 5.4 trillion yen ($52.43 billion)and 5.6 trillion yen, the sources told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Government ministers have said the package needs to be at least 5 trillion yen to soften the economic blow of the tax hike – Japan’s biggest step in decades toward curbing its enormous debt.

The government will craft an “effective” package amounting to “as much as possible above 5 trillion yen,” Yasuhiro Hanashi, a parliamentary finance secretary, told a panel of Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party.

The government is to decide on the measures on Thursday, but precise amounts will not be spelled out until the Cabinet approves a supplementary budget on Dec 12, the sources said.

Sources said last week that the budget, including the stimulus measures, would be worth some 7 trillion yen.

via Reuters

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