Japan passes $276 billion stimulus package, though direct spending is just $73 billion
TOKYO—Japan’s cabinet approved a government stimulus package that includes ¥7.5 trillion ($73 billion) in new spending, in the latest effort by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to jump-start the nation’s sluggish economy.
The spending program, which has a total value of ¥28 trillion over several years, represents not just an attempt to breathe new life into the Japanese economy but a political test for Mr. Abe, who has struggled to deliver sustained growth.
The government will pump money into infrastructure projects, such as upgrading ports to accommodate foreign cruise ships and building food-processing facilities to increase exports of farm products. A supplementary budget later this month will provide direct spending of about ¥4 trillion in the fiscal year ending in March.
The package also aims to offer more help to Japanese who say they haven’t felt many benefits from more than three years of Abenomics, the prime minister’s signature growth program. The government will provide cash handouts of ¥15,000, or about $147, each to 22 million low-income people, bring more workers into a public-pension system by easing admission criteria, and offer more college scholarships.
