Japan unveils $49B package to ease price burden amid war

Japan on Tuesday unveiled a 6.2 trillion yen ($49 billion) support package to ease the burden of rising prices on households and smaller firms amid Russia’s war on Ukraine.

According to Kyodo News, the package includes a cash grant for poor families and more subsidies for oil wholesalers and livestock farmers.

The size of the relief package is expected to reach 13.2 trillion yen ($103 billion) when private sector funds are added.

"We should prevent surging raw material and other prices from becoming a bottleneck to the recovery of social and economic activities from the COVID-19 pandemic at any cost," Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said, urging the Bank of Japan to keep working toward its inflation goal of 2%.