RISING INFLATION
A new poll published on Thursday by the Yomiuri Shimbun daily put support for Takaichi at 71 per cent, the fifth-highest for a new Cabinet since 1978.
Ahead of her parliament address, Takaichi had promised to ease pressure on households, saying the cost-of-living squeeze was a priority and telling her cabinet to draw up measures to address it.
However, there was little further detail on Friday on the promised economic package.
Takaichi’s predecessor Shigeru Ishiba survived barely a year in office, with voters hammering the ruling party in elections partly because of rising prices.
Official data on Friday showed inflation accelerated last month, with the consumer price index jumping to 2.9 per cent in September from 2.7 per cent the previous month.
But without volatile fresh fruit and energy prices, the reading eased to 3 per cent from 3.3 per cent.
A particular cause of voter anger over the past year has been skyrocketing prices for rice.
This was linked to a very hot summer in 2023 and panic-buying after a “megaquake” warning last year, amongst other factors.
Prices for the staple in September climbed 48.6 per cent year-on-year, though the rate has eased from recent months, having hit around 100 per cent in June.
Takaichi has long advocated for more government spending and easing monetary policy to spur growth, and her appointment has boosted stocks to record highs.
Since taking office, however, she has said monetary policy decisions would be left to the Bank of Japan (BoJ).
The BoJ has been “normalising” its super-easy monetary policy, and inflation has been above target for some time.
“Overall, the big picture continues to be that price pressures appear to be reasonably firm,” said Abhijit Surya at Capital Economics.
Source: CNA
