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The Asahi Shimbun
National Report
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THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
October 30, 2026 at 12:44 JST
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi announces plans on Oct. 29 to resume utility subsidies and wind down gasoline subsidies from December. (Takeshi Iwashita)
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi announced on Oct. 29 that Japan will begin gradually cutting gasoline subsidies in December, after reviving them this spring amid mounting tensions in the Middle East that drove up global oil prices.
Subsidies for electricity and gas bills will also resume in December and run through February.
Takaichi told reporters that the gasoline subsidy is “strictly an emergency measure to cushion the impact of sudden price changes,” adding that the government is “using more than 10 billion yen a day in precious taxpayer money to keep fuel prices down.”
The government currently subsidizes gasoline to keep the nationwide average price of regular gasoline at around 170 yen ($1.08) per liter. It will raise that benchmark by 5 yen each month toward early spring.
Takaichi said the government would consider the impact on people’s lives and economic activity, as well as crude oil prices, as it “moves smoothly toward a sustainable system.”
She declined to say how long the benchmark would continue to rise or when the subsidies would end, saying, “I don’t want to prejudge the matter.”
Launched in 2022, the gasoline subsidy program ended late last year when the former provisional gasoline tax rate was abolished. It was reinstated in March, with subsidies now exceeding 50 yen per liter.
Spending totaled about 9 trillion yen through September, at times reaching 300 billion yen a month.
The subsidies are funded through massive government contingency reserves, prompting concerns within the government and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party about the strain on public finances.
Takaichi instructed Economy Minister Ryosei Akazawa on Oct. 23 to review the program.
For electricity and gas bills, the government will provide subsidies of 1 yen per kilowatt-hour in December and 4.5 yen in January and February, saving a typical household about 7,000 yen over the three months.
The program will begin a month earlier than last winter, when subsidies ran from January through March. The government will decide on support measures for March based on weather conditions and energy prices.
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