• The average retail gasoline price in Japan reached its highest point in 15 years.
• The upward trend is attributed to a weaker yen.
• There are concerns that if government goes ahead with its plan to end the subsidy.

Industry ministry data on Wednesday revealed that the average retail gasoline price in Japan reached its highest point in 15 years, marking a 14-week streak of continuous increase.

As of Monday, the national average for regular gasoline surged by 1.8 yen from the previous week to reach 183.70 yen per liter, a level not seen since August 2008.

This upward trend is attributed to a weaker yen and the Japanese government’s gradual reduction of subsidies aimed at lowering gasoline prices, which began in June.

There are concerns that if the government goes ahead with its plan to end the subsidy program by the end of September, prices will continue to rise, impacting households. To address this issue, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met with Koichi Hagiuda, the policy chief of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, on Tuesday, urging the implementation of more measures to mitigate the effects of high fuel costs.

Despite the ongoing subsidies, the industry ministry anticipates that the price of regular gasoline will establish a new all-time high next Monday. (For reference, one U.S. dollar is equivalent to 145.79 Japanese yen.)

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