The government plans to additionally spend around ¥980 billion ($6.78 billion) on subsidies to curb electricity, gas and gasoline bills, sources said Tuesday.
At a liaison meeting between the government and the ruling parties on Tuesday, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said that his Cabinet plans to approve the additional spending on Tuesday.
The government ended the subsidy program in May, but reinstated it for August through October as a measure to cope with scorching summer heat. It has decided to continue it until the end of this year, with the funds being drawn from reserves in the budget for the fiscal year that started in April.
A total of more than ¥10 trillion has so far been spent on the subsidy program, which was introduced in response to a surge in global energy prices.
The electricity and gas subsidies are designed to cut electricity bills by ¥4 per kilowatt-hour and gas bills by ¥17.5 per cubic meter in August and September. The subsidies will be reduced in October.
Meanwhile, the gasoline subsidies have helped keep the national average retail regular gasoline price at around ¥175 per liter.
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