Japan plans more stimulus to tackle inflation

Japan is preparing another round of economic stimulus measures, the government said Friday, as rising prices and the plummeting yen squeeze the world’s third-largest economy.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told ministers to draft the relief package by the end of October so it can be passed by parliament this year, government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters.

He did not give a figure for the measures, but said they would include “efforts to deal with rising prices and to encourage wage increases”.

Ministers have also been told to seek “ways to recover and strengthen regional economies’ abilities to do business by taking advantage of the yen’s depreciation”, Matsuno added.

The yen has hit 24-year lows in recent weeks, prompting an intervention by the government last week.