No fresh budget measures to tackle inflation, says Ishiba

Tokyo (Jiji Press) — Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Thursday that no new budgetary measures to tackle inflation will be compiled after the expected enactment of the government’s fiscal 2025 budget.

On Wednesday, he expressed his intention to launch “powerful measures” against soaring prices after the passage of the budget, being examined at the Budget Committee of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet, the country’s parliament.

“I apologize for the inconvenience and concern caused during the deliberations at the Upper House Budget Committee,” Ishiba told Thursday’s meeting of the committee. “I didn’t say that we would launch new budgetary measures.”

He stressed that his administration will address the unabated inflation with policy measures included in the fiscal 2024 supplementary budget and the fiscal 2025 draft budget.

Referring to plans to raise the minimum taxable income and make high school education free of tuition, Ishiba said, “We ask for understanding for an early passage of the budget.”

Asked about a possible revision of the draft budget, Ishiba said that the existing one is “best.” He also stated, “Higher food and fuel prices can be dealt with in various ways even in areas unrelated to the budgets.”

Regarding the government’s plan to make a decision by this autumn on whether to raise the caps on out-of-pocket payments for high-cost medical care, he promised to take into account the opinions of patient groups. “If there is any organization that is unhappy, we should not conduct (such a review),” he said.