Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced a 108 trillion yen ($989 billion) stimulus package, Japan’s largest ever, to rescue the coronavirus-hit economy with Tokyo and six other economic hubs set to be put in a state of emergency, Bloomberg News reported. The package, equivalent to about 20 percent of the nation’s economic output, will include cash handouts worth 6 trillion yen for households and small businesses hit by the virus and offers businesses deferrals on tax and social service costs worth 26 trillion yen, Abe said today. The premier said he plans to officially declare as soon as Tuesday a state of emergency for Tokyo, its three neighboring prefectures, Osaka, Hyogo and Fukuoka prefectures. He said that details of the stimulus package and an extra budget to finance it would be announced on Tuesday. The first phase of the package aims to stop job losses and bankruptcies, while a second round of aid, after the virus is contained, will try to support a V-shaped economic recovery, according to a government document obtained by Bloomberg. Economists see a deep Japanese recession ahead, with export markets paralyzed, the summer Olympics postponed and the country’s capital facing the prospect of stronger stay-at-home requests.
