Japan’s Kishida vows measures to cushion blow from rising inflation

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledged on Monday to compensate households for the rising cost of living with subsidies and payouts, stressing his government's resolve to pull the economy permanently out of stagnation. With the rise in wages proving too slow to offset "rapidly rising prices", the government will cushion the blow by returning to households some of the expected increase in tax revenues generated by solid economic growth, Kishida said. "To ensure this change takes hold, we must achieve sustained, structural wage increases and promote investment through private-public cooperation," Kishida added.