BEIJING, Dec. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet is meeting over a new stimulus package worth about 29 billion US dollars. It is a bid to rev up regional economies beset by higher prices following April's tax hike, and its currency Yen's plunge.
In the package are subsidies and job-creating programs, and reportedly also 3.5 billion US dollars in help for stagnant regional economies. The previous rounds of aggressive monetary and fiscal stimulus have boosted stock prices and driven down the Yen, producing massive gains for big exporting companies and investors.
However, low-income groups, small firms and rural areas have been hit hard by rising import costs from a weak Yen, and a rise in living costs due to the sales tax hike. This latest stimulus package centers on subsidies and payouts to local government, as Abe focuses on regional economies ahead of nationwide local elections planned in April.
(Source: CNTV.com)
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