The ruling Liberal Democratic Party's junior coalition partner Komeito will call on Monday for emergency measures to cushion people against the economic blow from rising prices of energy and food, the party's leader, Natsuo Yamaguchi, said on Friday.
The proposal will include a call to expand and extend the duration of a gasoline subsidy for oil distributors, as well as other steps to ease the pain on companies and households hit by soaring raw material costs, he said.
While the government can tap some of the ¥5.5 trillion ($45 billion) in reserves set aside under the fiscal 2022 budget, it needs to be ready to top up funding to deal with what could be Japan's "worst postwar crisis," Yamaguchi said.
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