Japan’s Kishida: cabinet to ensure wage growth exceeds rate of inflation

TOKYO (Reuters) -Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Wednesday his new cabinet will take steps so that wage growth consistently exceeds the rate of inflation “by several percentage points”.

“We’ll ensure Japan is fully out of deflation,” Kishida told a news conference after reshuffling his cabinet.

Kishida also said the government and his ruling coalition would aim to compile a “bold” economic package next month to cushion the blow on households from rising living costs.

He declined to offer details on how to fund the spending, saying only that the government will consider compiling an extra budget “at an appropriate time”.

(Reporting by Leika Kihara and Tetsushi Kajimoto; editing by Kevin Liffey)