Japan Cabinet okays 18.6t yen stimulus

JAPANESE Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet yesterday approved an 18.6 trillion yen (S$228.5 billion) economic stimulus package, which it claimed would help to boost the country's annual gross domestic product (GDP) by one percentage point and create around 250,000 new jobs.

The government also decided to implement a one trillion yen corporate tax cut with the aim of boosting corporate capital investment and encouraging companies to raise wages as a means to boost consumption.

Despite an ambitious set of economic goals linked to the package, market reaction was muted as many of the measures simply conform to measures unveiled in October to offset the impact of the planned two-stage doubling of the national consumption tax.