Japan may expand a subsidy programme for gasoline and other fuels among measures under consideration to ease soaring energy costs, the industry minister said on Sunday.
The measure will be part of a fresh relief package which Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida ordered his cabinet last Tuesday to put together by the end of April to cushion the economic blow from rising fuel and raw material prices.
“We are concerned that the weak yen, on top of escalated prices of oil and natural gas amid the Ukraine crisis, is having a negative impact on business activities and people’s daily life,” Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Koichi Hagiuda told a talk show by public broadcaster NHK.—Reuters
