Factbox: Japan's stimulus plan to combat coronavirus pain

Reuters
Updated ·2 min read
A view of a room at a hotel that has been designated to accommodate asymptomatic people and those with light symptoms of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) to free up hospital beds, in Tokyo

(Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday unveiled a near $1 trillion stimulus package in which the government vowed to take all steps to battle the deepening fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

Below are key measures Abe's cabinet approved on Tuesday:

FISCAL STIMULUS

- Cash payouts of 300,000 yen for households whose income has been hit by the pandemic.

- Cash payouts to small- and mid-sized firms.

- A rise in employment adjustment subsidies for small- and mid-sized firms as well as big companies who keep employees on the payroll to avoid layoffs and bankruptcies.

- An additional 10,000 yen per child for families that receive child allowances.

MEDICAL SUPPORT

- Tripling production of Fujifilm Holding Corp's Avigan anti-flu drug, being tested in China as a treatment for COVID-19, this fiscal year so it can be used to treat some two million people.

- Backing funding to secure medical supplies and hospital beds, as well as for the production of masks, vaccines, and infrastructure to promote telecommuting.

- Giving local governments subsidies to help them shoulder costs such as securing accommodation for those infected.

- Establishing a reserve fund on infectious diseases.

FINANCIAL BACKSTOP

- Enabling cash-strapped small and mid-sized firms to borrow at zero interest without collateral.

- Making use of crisis lending schemes by Development Bank of Japan and Shoko Chukin Bank for loans to large corporations.

- Providing airlines with financial support and a grace period for payment of landing fees.

TAX BREAKS

- Lowering corporate tax burdens on small- and mid-sized companies.

- Exempting small- and mid-sized firms that face severe business conditions from taxation on property and assets, or lowering those burdens.

- Giving businesses which saw sharp income falls a one-year grace period for certain tax payments.

- Expanding the conditions for qualifying for a tax refund for loss-making firms.

- Extending tax breaks for purchases of passenger cars.

SUPPLY CHAIN REFORM

- Providing subsidies to companies to return to Japan their overseas manufacturing sites of products and materials heavily concentrated on certain areas.

- Supporting companies to diversify their overseas production sites of parts and materials that are heavily concentrated on certain areas to other nations, such as those in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

($1 = 109.0900 yen)

(Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto, Daniel Leussink and Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Himani Sarkar and David Holmes)