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.
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