Japan’s Takaichi keeps key ministers in cabinet reshuffle

Filed 1h ago · Via Courthouse News · The Buffoon Desk

THIS STORY IS SCORED

Court of the Queen

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: various · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi retained her core cabinet in a Thursday reshuffle, keeping Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi in place as she pursues a consumption tax cut on food set to begin next year.

Takaichi pledged a 'responsible, proactive fiscal policy' and a 'virtuous cycle' of growth, even as economists note she has not identified the roughly 5 trillion yen needed annually to fund the cut. Her spending plans and the Bank of Japan's low rates have pushed the benchmark bond yield to about 3%, a three-decade high.

Trade Minister Ryosei Akazawa, who leads tariff talks with the United States, and fiscal-spending advocate Minoru Kiuchi also kept their posts. Takaichi said she would ensure market confidence through 'a high level of transparency,' without detailing how the tax cut gets paid for.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

Keeping the same team and calling it a shakeup is a neat trick, like repainting the barn the same red and telling everyone it's new. The bond market isn't buying the transparency talk any more than it's buying the arithmetic on that tax cut. Saying you'll explain the plan later is not the same as having one now.

Source: Read the original at Courthouse News → Scored: Court of the Queen · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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