TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s government should phase out blanket stimulus aimed at cushioning the blow from rising living costs, and shift to more targeted support to low-income households, private-sector members of a key government panel said on Thursday.
The government is under pressure from politicians to extend a September deadline for subsidies aimed at curbing utility and gas bills, which was put in place as part of a package of measures to ease the pain on households from rising inflation.
“The government should gradually scale back and abolish (the measures), and shift towards targeted support to low-income households and regions heavily affected by rising inflation,” the private-sector members said in a proposal to the government’s top economic council.
The views of the private-sector members, which include academics and business executives, usually lay the groundwork for future government deliberations on key economic themes.
(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Kim Coghill)
