VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

FILE PHOTO: People cross the street at Ginza shopping district in Tokyo, Japan, August 11, 2024. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan/File Photo

VOInews, Tokyo : Japan is considering spending 13.9 trillion yen ($89.7 billion) from its general account to fund a new stimulus package aimed at mitigating the impact of increasing prices on households, public broadcaster NHK said on Thursday.

The proposed spending, exceeding the 13.2 trillion yen allocated for last year's economic stimulus, is set to exacerbate Japan's already strained public finances, with debt currently twice the size of its economy.

The package also includes around 8 trillion yen for government investment and lending, as well as local government spending, putting the overall package at 39 trillion yen when private funding is included, NHK reported without citing sources.

The stimulus package will include 30,000 yen ($193) to low-income households that are exempt from residential taxes and 20,000 yen per child for households with families, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Major hurdles over the package were cleared on Wednesday after Japan's ruling coalition agreed with a key opposition party on the draft of the package.

"I'm not sure whether the economic package of this size is necessary now, when there are emerging signs that private consumption is picking up and real wage growth is turning positive," said Takayuki Sueyoshi, senior economist at Daiwa Institute of Research.

Sueyoshi also said that Japan's goal of running a primary budget surplus in the next fiscal year would now be hard to fulfill.

The government estimated in July that Japan would achieve a primary budget surplus of 0.8 billion yen in fiscal 2025, which means tax revenues will slightly exceed expenditures.

In the past, Japan has used supplementary budgets, typically worth a few trillion yen, to deal with one-off, emergency spending, such as disaster relief. That changed in 2020, when the size ballooned to 73 trillion yen to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since then, Japan has continued to compile outsized, largely debt-funded, supplementary budgets. Last year, nearly 9 trillion yen of the 13-trillion-yen spending was funded by new debt.

The scale of new bonds Japan would need to issue remains unclear. Last year, the government issued close to 9 trillion yen in bonds for the supplementary budget.

The International Monetary Fund has warned that Japan must fund any additional spending plans within its budget rather than issue more debt, urging the government to get its fiscal house in order as the central bank starts to raise interest rates//CNA-VOI

The sun sets behind a crude oil pump jack on a drill pad in the Permian Basin in Loving County, Texas, U.S. November 24, 2019. REUTERS/Angus Mordant/File Photo

VOInews, Texas, U.S : Oil prices edged higher on Thursday due to supply concerns triggered by escalating geopolitical tensions amid the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.

Brent crude futures for January rose 28 cents, or 0.4 per cent, to $73.09. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures for January rose 28 cents, or 0.4 per cent, at $69.03.

Ukraine fired a volley of British Storm Shadow cruise missiles into Russia on Wednesday, the latest new Western weapon it has been permitted to use on Russian targets a day after it fired U.S. ATACMS missiles.

Moscow has said the use of Western weapons to strike Russian territory far from the border would be a major escalation in the conflict. Kyiv says it needs the capability to defend itself by hitting Russian rear bases used to support Moscow's invasion, which entered its 1,000th day this week.

Meanwhile, U.S. crude stocks rose by 545,000 barrels to 430.3 million barrels in the week ended Nov. 15, the Energy Information Administration said, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 138,000-barrel rise.

Gasoline inventories last week rose more than forecast, while distillate stockpiles posted a larger-than-expected draw.

Adding to supply, Norway's Equinor said it had restored full output capacity at the Johan Sverdrup oilfield in the North Sea following a power outage.

Meanwhile, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies led by Russia, the group known as OPEC+, may push back output increases again when it meets on Dec. 1 due to weak global oil demand, according to three OPEC+ sources familiar with the discussions.

OPEC+, which pumps around half the world's oil, had initially planned to gradually reverse production cuts with minor increases spread over several months in 2024 and 2025.

However, a slowdown in Chinese and global demand, coupled with rising output outside the group, have potentially thwarted this plan//CNA-VOI

A low pressure storm system known as a "bomb cyclone" forms off the coast of the US Pacific Northwest and western Canada in a composite satellite image on Nov 19, 2024. (Photo: Handout via REUTERS/CIRA/NOAA)

VOInews, Washington DC : A powerful storm was clobbering Washington state on Wednesday (Nov 20), knocking out power to hundreds of thousands while wreaking havoc on road travel and causing at least one death and two injuries. 

A woman was killed on Tuesday when a tree fell on a homeless encampment in Lynnwood, just north of Seattle, local fire department officials said on social media. Two people were also injured when a tree fell on their trailer in Maple Valley, southeast of Seattle.

Schools across western Washington canceled classes or postponed the start of school on Wednesday.

The storm with hurricane force winds of 80kmh and gusts around 70mph felled trees and power lines overnight. It knocked out electricity to more than 600,000 homes and businesses in Washington, Southwest Oregon and Northern California, according to the Poweroutage.us.

"The storm is just beginning," said Rich Otto, a meteorologist with the NWS Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.

"We haven't gotten a ton of rain yet, just 2-3 inches over Southwest Oregon and Northern California," Otto said.

But the storm, called a "bomb cyclone" which happens when the storm rapidly intensifies, is going to stall over Northern California in the next few days, he said.

"The biggest surge is Thursday. We're looking at 10-15 inches of rain by Friday, some places, 20-inches," Otto said, with the main concerns for southwest Oregon and Northern California.

A bomb cyclone rapidly intensifies in 24 hours or less when a cold air mass from the polar region collides with warm tropical air in a process that meteorologists call bombogenesis.

The weather service has issued a plethora of warnings and watches across the Pacific Northwest for high winds, flood watches and warnings, and including blizzard warnings from Northern Washington to the Sierra Nevada Range.

According to the state's department of transportation, the storm was making road travel treacherous. Downed trees and weather conditions were slowing traffic across the state, as the department warned motorists to be cautious while on the roadways//CNA-VOI

Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture, Pratikno, issuing a press statement on Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki evacuees in Jakarta on Wednesday (November 20, 2024). (ANTARA/Asep Firmansyah/rst)

VOInews, Jakarta : The government has stepped up efforts to build temporary housing for people who evacuated to safety following the eruption of Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki to ensure their comfort and security amid the approach of the rainy season.

"We are speeding up the work of this temporary housing because of the rainy season and ahead of the Christmas holiday," Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture, Pratikno, said on Monday.

"The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) will immediately build temporary housing," he added.

According to him, based on reports from ministries/technical institutions, the volcano is continuing to erupt, but showing no sign of increased activity.

In addition, the radius for the security area has been reduced, while evacuation services are still being maintained.

The number of centralized evacuees has also shrunk to around 5,117. However, the number of independent evacuees is still high at 6 thousand, the minister informed.

"The number of independent evacuees who join their relatives is higher, more than 6,417 people," he added.

Besides building temporary housing, the government will also assist in the process of independent relocation, home renovation, and preparation for permanent housing.

At a ministerial meeting on Wednesday, Pratikno said that the central and regional governments have mapped out the locations for permanent housing.

"We will further explore the administration and we have discussed it with residents. The dialogue with residents is intensively being carried out to determine permanent housing," he added.

Later, permanent housing will be constructed at several locations, rather than being concentrated in a single area.

Pratikno assured that the data collection process would involve affected residents.

"Once again, the house renovation, independent relocation, the construction of temporary housing, and the construction of permanent housing will be carried out simultaneously," he emphasized//Antara-VOI