Japan’s minority government signed off Friday on a $140-billion stimulus drive aimed at putting more money in consumers’ pockets after the ruling party’s worst election result in 15 years.The October 27 contest saw voters — angry over corruption in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and inflation — deprive new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s coalition of a majority in parliament’s lower house.The package worth 21.9 trillion yen ($141.8 billion) includes handouts of around 30,000 yen for low-income households, fuel and energy subsidies, and assistance to small businesses, according to the government.The overall business impact was expected to be 39 trillion yen.”To enhance the vitality of Japan as a whole, we will strengthen the growth of the national and regional economies and raise wages for all people, of all generations,” top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters.To pay for the package, the second in as many years, the government will table a supplementary budget by the end of the year in the lower house.But views about the move among people on the streets were mixed.Voter Katsuhiro Hirakawa, 63, accused politicians of making “whatever decisions they want without listening to the voices of us ordinary citizens”.Authorities should “think carefully about why they need more tax revenue, or how they can reduce wasteful spending, before making decisions on budgets”, he told AFP in Tokyo.And Hisaki Sato, 46, wanted more help for the middle class, adding: “We’re now living in an age when not only low-income households but middle-income families are in need of more stimulus measures.”The middle class is “home to many people who are contributing directly to the economy, so I want the government to cherish them as well”.- Debt mountain -To win enough lawmakers’ support, Ishiba agreed to include the lifting of an income tax threshold pushed by the opposition Democratic Party for the People (DPP).The smaller party says this will ease labour shortages and boost consumer spending by encouraging part-time staff to work longer hours and earn more.But critics worry that this will reduce tax revenues by trillions of yen and increase Japan’s huge debt pile, which equates to more than 200 percent of gross domestic product.With the Bank of Japan expected to keep hiking interest rates, this debt mountain will also cost more and more, SMBC Nikko Securities economist Yoshimasa Maruyama said.Tax cuts “must be accompanied by a permanent source of revenue to fill the gap”, Maruyama wrote in a research note.Ishiba, 67, has promised to revitalise depressed rural regions and to address the “quiet emergency” of Japan’s shrinking population with measures to support families such as flexible working hours.Going forward, businesses worry that the need to curry favour with opposition parties means Ishiba will avoid reforms needed to improve Japan’s competitiveness.There are also concerns that the government may pressure the Bank of Japan to go slow on raising interest rates, even if this leads to a weaker yen.- Rice prices soar -Government data Friday put headline inflation last month at a modest 2.3 percent, but it showed rice up nearly 60 percent year-on-year, revealing the pain for ordinary Japanese.The price of the staple rocketed because of hot weather and water shortages and after a “megaquake” warning in August led to hoarding. Record inflows of hungry tourists were also blamed.Separately, Ishiba has promised to spend 10 trillion yen through 2030 to boost Japan’s semiconductor and artificial intelligence sectors and help the nation regain its tech edge.After dominating tech in the 1980s, “Japan had quite a long period of almost just sitting back and observing a lot of this innovation,” particularly in artificial intelligence, said Kelly Forbes at the AI Asia Pacific Institute.”What we have seen in the last maybe two to three years is Japan really waking up to the potential” of such developments, she told AFP.

Most markets gained Friday after a bounce on Wall Street, while bitcoin continued its march higher to move within touching distance of the $100,000 mark.Rising geopolitical tensions tempered the atmosphere and lifted oil again after Russia hit Ukraine with a new-generation intermediate-range missile and sent a warning to the West.The gains in equities followed a retreat in most regional bourses Thursday after a forecast-topping earnings report from chip titan Nvidia still fell short of investors’ hopes and sparked worries that a tech-fuelled surge in markets may have run its course.However, all three main indexes on Wall Street ended on a positive note with observers saying traders had dialled back their gloom over Nvidia as they digested pledges by the firm over production of its keenly anticipated Blackwell line-up.Investors also took heart from comments by Chicago Federal Reserve chief Austan Goolsbee, who said he saw interest rates coming down more as the US central bank makes progress in bringing inflation down to its two percent target.He pointed out that regarding the jobs market and prices “things are getting close to where we want to settle”, adding that “it follows that we will probably need to move rates to where we think they should settle, too”.”If we look out over the next year or so, it feels to me like rates will end up a fair bit lower than where they are today,” he said.The remarks helped temper recent worries that the Fed will have to scale back its rate plans if US President-elect Donald Trump pushes through his promised tax cuts and import tariffs, which some warn could reignite inflation.The gains in New York filtered through to Asia.Tokyo climbed as the government prepared to announce a $140 billion stimulus package to kickstart the country’s stuttering economy, while Sydney, Seoul, Singapore, Wellington, Mumbai, Bangkok, Taipei and Jakarta also rose.However, Hong Kong and Shanghai sank on a sell-off in tech firms caused by weak earnings from firms including PDD and Baidu. Manila also slipped.London and Paris opened higher while Frankfurt also advanced even after data showed Germany’s economy grew less than initially thought in the third quarter.Bitcoin, meanwhile, set a new record high of $99,505.44.While it later eased back slightly, there is a broad expectation that it will soon burst through $100,000 as investors grow increasingly hopeful that Trump will pass measures to deregulate the crypto sector.Bets on an easier environment for digital units in a Trump White House have seen bitcoin soar more than 40 percent since his election victory this month, while it has more than doubled since the turn of the year.Adding to the positive vibes was news that Securities and Exchange Commission chair Gary Gensler — who oversaw measures to rein in cryptocurrencies — intends to leave when Trump takes office on January 20, Bloomberg reported. Oil prices extended the previous day’s gains on rising Ukraine worries after Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that the conflict had characteristics of a “global” war and did not rule out strikes on Western countries.His comments came after Moscow test-fired a new missile at its neighbour, which Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky called a major ramping up of the “scale and brutality” of the war.Both main crude contracts extended the two percent gains seen Thursday when natural gas prices also hit their highest level in a year.- Key figures around 0810 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.7 percent at 38,283.85 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.9 percent at 19,229.97 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 3.1 percent at 3,267.19 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.7 percent at 8,202.86Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0487 from $1.0476 on ThursdayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2574 from $1.2587Dollar/yen: UP at 154.72 yen from 154.54 yenEuro/pound: UP at 83.40 pence from 83.20 penceWest Texas Intermediate: UP 0.7 percent at $70.56 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.6 percent at $74.65 per barrelNew York – Dow: UP 1.1 percent at 43,870.35 (close)