Shinzo Abe, Japanese Prime Minister mulls for announcing a package of new spending measures on Tuesday aiming to boost the economic growth. The planning has been revealed by Nikkei without citing the source of information.
The Japanese prime minister is expected to announce details of the measures through a press conference. The press briefing will take place on the same day of passing country's ￥96.7 trillion (US$855 billion) budget for fiscal 2016. The new spending measures may include shopping vouchers; increase in pay for nursery school teachers and public works projects, reports The Australian Financial Review.
Meanwhile, support for fiscal spending while opposing a planned consumption tax hike has been witnessed to rise, reports Nikkei Asian Review citing a new Nikkei Inc./ TV Tokyo poll as the source. The rise in support indicates an intensifying sense that points to the ever losing speed of Japanese economy.
Support in favor of a bigger budget has been witnessed to increase by 8% to 55% compared to the previous survey conducted in February. However, those who consider a bigger budget unnecessary has fallen 8% to 26%. Support for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's signature economic policies have been witnessed to rise by 3% to 34% while for other camps to shrink 1 point to 49%. Abe is assumed to plan for front loading the spending measures under the nation's regular budget. This will allow the government to finance more projects during this year. However, size of the stimulus and feasibility of the plan for increasing sales tax will probably be decided after observing figures for first quarter GDP growth. Figures for the first quarter are scheduled to be disclosed on May 18, reports Taipei Times citing the Nikkei report as the source. Meanwhile, some members of the Abe's party have reportedly been backing a new stimulus package of around ￥10 trillion. A spokesperson from the prime minister's office hasn't been available for comments upon contact outside regular office hour. Prices of commodities haven't been increased last month, keeping the nation away from reaching Bank of Japan's (BoJ) 2% inflation goal. The gauge has been witnessed to rise 0.8% from last year stripping out energy and food costs, according to a Nikkei furnished statistics bureau report on Friday last week.
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