($1 = 136.1000 yen) (Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
TOKYO, March 10 (Reuters) - Japan is considering
providing further cash payouts worth 50,000 yen ($367) to
low-income households with children as part of steps to be
compiled later this month to ease the pain of inflation,
domestic media reported on Friday.
The news followed Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's instruction
last week for the ruling coalition to draft necessary steps over
the next two weeks.
Demands from politicians will keep Kishida's government
under pressure to spend even more, which could add to public
debt burden, particularly ahead of elections such as local polls
scheduled nationwide in April.
The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its small coalition
ally Komeito, aim to draft their own proposals next week before
the government compiles measures including a repeat of
50,000-yen payouts that were first adopted last year.
The payout per child will target single-parent households
with low incomes and those exempted from resident tax, public
broadcaster NHK reported.
Japanese households are grappling with intensifying
cost-of-living pressures amid elevated inflation for energy and
food.
Rounds of heavy stimulus spending have aggravated the
industrial world's heaviest public debt at more than double the
size of Japan's economy, the world's third largest.
For now, the government is expected to tap emergency
reserves already earmarked for the next fiscal year's budget.
But further spending could strain Japan's debt woes.
A main opposition party will also submit legislation to
parliament, offering cash handouts worth the same amount as the
ruling coalition.
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