Japanese PM Takaichi’s approval rating slides as inflation bites

TOKYO : The approval rating of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s administration slumped in July to the lowest level since she took office last year, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on Sunday, a sign that rising living costs were hitting her popularity. The sliding popularity adds to headaches for Takaichi, who has seen her expansionary fiscal and monetary policy bias cause a spike in bond yields and a slump in yen to four-decade lows.

Such market pressures and opposition even from within her own ruling party have delayed the government’s decision on whether and when to cut an 8% levy on food sales – a pledge Takaichi made to cushion the blow from rising living costs.

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