To cushion the impact of soaring oil prices due to the war in Ukraine, the central government said Friday that it will beef up countermeasures including bolstering a subsidy program for oil wholesalers.
The surge in crude prices is expected to drive inflation in Japan higher, which is increasingly becoming a headache for an economy that has already been battered by the coronavirus pandemic.
Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, prices for global benchmarks Brent crude and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) were hovering just above $90 per barrel, but both have shot up in the past several days. On Thursday, Brent rose to $119.84, its highest level since May 2012, while WTI climbed to $116.57, its highest mark since September 2008, according to Reuters.