The government decided at a cabinet meeting to spend nearly 1 trillion yen from reserve funds to subsidize electricity, gas, and gasoline costs, but Finance Minister Suzuki emphasized that “this is not a policy that should be continued forever.”

As a measure to combat rising prices, the government plans to provide subsidies for electricity and gas bills for three months starting from August, and to continue gasoline subsidies until the end of the year.

For this reason, the government decided at a cabinet meeting to spend 989.1 billion yen from the reserve fund for measures to combat rising prices in this fiscal year’s budget.

Minister of Finance Shunichi Suzuki
“Considering the financial burden and other factors, it cannot be said that this is a policy that should be continued forever.”

Subsidies for electricity, gas, and gasoline were initiated as a temporary measure to mitigate the sudden changes, but the total budget has now exceeded 11 trillion yen, and Finance Minister Suzuki emphasized that “we need to consider a way out.”