The Japanese Government would be considering extending subsidies aimed at lowering gasoline prices and utility bills from the end of 2023 to April 2024. The government will consider removing gasoline subsidies when economic conditions allow, and plans to reduce support for electricity and gas fees starting in May 2024. The plans have been included in the draft of a new economic stimulus package that the Cabinet is expected to approve in early November 2023.
Japan introduced the current subsidy program for fuel prices in January 2022 and the program for electricity and gas bills in early 2023. The two programs were originally scheduled to end in September 2023, but were extended until the end of the year to deal with new price increases. To mitigate the impact of rising oil product prices, the Japanese Ministry of Trade and Industry (METI) had set aside JPY6,200bn (US$41bn) for January 2022-December 2023, as well as allocated JPY3,100bn (US$21bn) to cap rises in retail electricity and city gas prices throughout 2023 to ease inflation.
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