TOKYO - On Friday, the Japanese government gave its approval to a significant economic package valued at approximately 21.3 trillion yen ($135 billion) aimed at addressing increasing living expenses, as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi strives to boost growth via increased financial expenditure.

The initial economic support package introduced by Takaichi, who assumed the role of prime minister only a month ago, is projected to amount to 42.8 trillion yen once combined with expenditures from regional governments and the private sector, significantly exceeding the 39 trillion yen in previous year's initiatives.

A set of actions within the package aim to assist the world's fourth-largest economy due to worries that increased U.S. tariffs could negatively impact companies and everyday people.

Besides short-term actions to ease inflation, the government intends to increase funding in sectors like shipbuilding and artificial intelligence, considered essential for handling emergencies and ensuring national security.

Takaichi believes that these strategic investments could also boost the nation's sustained economic development.

The possibility of a major stimulus package has led to a decline in the yen and Japanese government bonds recently, driven by investor worries regarding the nation's worsening financial situation, which is already the most severe among developed economies, with debt exceeding twice the size of its economy.

In a clear effort to address these worries, Takaichi informed journalists that the economic plan aligns with the "financial stability of the country."

Mentioning her motto of "responsible and active" financial management, she stated, "We will not recklessly seek to increase spending."

To finance the economic package, the government intends to create a supplementary budget of 17.7 trillion yen for the current fiscal year ending in March, with the goal of passing it before the current Diet session concludes in December.

It would surpass the 13.9 trillion yen additional budget for the prior fiscal year established by Takaichi's predecessor, Shigeru Ishiba, indicating her advocacy for substantial financial expenditure.

Japan's additional budget allocations have surpassed 10 trillion yen in recent years, significantly higher than the few trillion yen that were common prior to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Despite the government's intention to issue more bonds to address a budget deficit, Takaichi mentioned that the overall debt to be issued this fiscal year by March is expected to be less than the previous year's figure of 42.1 trillion yen.

The government's economic support plan is expected to briefly reduce consumer prices by as much as 0.7 percentage point, while increasing Japan's real gross domestic product by 24 trillion yen, equivalent to an annualized growth rate of 1.4 percent, according to the Cabinet Office.

However, certain economists are casting doubt on the effectiveness of the most recent package, cautioning that boosting demand in a period of rising prices might drive costs even higher and place a burden on families.

Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama dismissed this perspective, informing reporters that the content and size of the package will not lead to what she referred to as "demand-pull inflation," since it was created by gathering what is currently essential.

Notable items consist of cash gifts of 20,000 yen for each child, needing approximately 400 billion yen in public financial support, along with rice coupons or similar vouchers valued at 3,000 yen per individual to be provided by municipal officials.

The government will also include in the package the impact of abolishing a temporary gasoline tax and increasing the tax-free income threshold as part of initiatives to ease the economic pressure on families.

With rising food costs affecting households, the central government will allocate 2 trillion yen in subsidies to local authorities, allowing them to implement their own initiatives.

The package will also provide 500 billion yen in support for electricity and gas bills during the first three months of next year, lowering household energy expenses by approximately 7,000 yen on average over that time.

As per the Supreme Court's Registration Information Plaza on the 21st, the total number of gift transfers for residential buildings in Seoul between January and October this year reached 6,720, exceeding the 6,549 cases reported during the entire previous year. Monthly data indicates a growing trend: 419 instances in January, 671 in April, 740 in July, 881 in September, and 837 in October.

Notably, 21.6% (1,453 cases) of gift transfers in Seoul happened within the Gangnam Trio areas (Gangnam, Seocho, and Songpa). When adding Yangcheon-gu, which includes Mok-dong, almost one-third of all gift transfers in Seoul occurred in these four autonomous districts.

This has resulted in analysis indicating that wealthy people are choosing gift transfers over sales, expecting home prices to increase. It suggests that they find it more beneficial to transfer properties to their children rather than sell their apartments.

Another study highlights the government's approach of raising tax obligations as a possible cause. Not selling a house leads to significant holding taxes, including the overall real estate tax and property tax, whereas selling brings about capital gains tax responsibilities.

Due to the delay in the capital gains tax surcharge for multiple homeowners (base rate of 42% plus an additional 20%), which is anticipated to conclude in May next year, there are predictions that more individuals who own multiple properties will opt to pay gift taxes and transfer their real estate to their children. This strategy is being considered because, if property values increase in the future, transferring the assets beforehand could help them evade the higher surcharge on the overall real estate tax for multiple homeowners, as well as lower their capital gains tax liability.

November 19, 2025 (PORT SUDAN) – According to Sudan's Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), the inflation rate kept decreasing, dropping to 77.40% in October from 83.47% in September.

The yearly inflation rate is determined by the variation in the overall price level for the present month in relation to the corresponding month in the previous year, indicating price fluctuations throughout a complete year.

The CBS, in a press release, stated that "the rate of change in overall price levels—inflation—increased by 77.40% in October 2025 compared to the same period in the previous year."

It showed that the inflation rate in urban regions in October was 83.37%, a decrease from 87.64% in the previous month. At the same time, the inflation rate in rural areas in October was 74.76%, a drop from 81.91% in September.

The Bureau stated that inflation rates were determined using price information gathered individually from 16 states. Because of the worsening security conditions in North Darfur, data from this region could not be collected, so its prices were approximated. It also mentioned that it still estimates commodity price data for Central Darfur, as data collection has been suspended since the war began.

The Central Bureau of Statistics uses 663 items to track inflation, representing the consumption habits of society across economic, social, and geographic dimensions in both rural and urban regions, categorized into 12 groups. The largest share of the Sudanese population's income is allocated to the Food and Beverages category (52.89%), followed by Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas, and Fuel (14.17%), and Transport (8.34%).

CBS noted a reduction in the inflation rate across 10 categories in October. The biggest drop occurred in the Communications sector, with a 16.93% decrease, followed by a 13.39% decline in the Health category.

Nevertheless, the inflation rate for the Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas, Fuel category in October climbed to 72.80%, up by 1.55% compared to the prior month. Likewise, inflation within the Restaurants, Hotels category increased by 0.69%, totaling 47.69%.

The report stated that the inflation rate rose in eight states during October, with the highest increase observed in Northern State at 13.38%, while the smallest rise was noted in South Kordofan at 0.65%. The rate stayed steady in four states but fell in six others. The biggest decline was recorded in River Nile State, decreasing by 70.36%, followed by Al-Gezira State (30.64%), White Nile State (20.75%), Kassala State (1.43%), North Kordofan State (1.22%), and a 0.58% reduction in Red Sea State.

Inflation started to slowly decrease following its peak of 422% in July 2021. Although there is a current reduction, numerous Sudanese people, who have lost their means of living because of the ongoing war, express concerns over the unsustainable increase in the cost of goods, worsened by the persistent devaluation of the local currency and the absence of employment opportunities.