TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The Japanese government on Friday approved an economic package worth 39 trillion yen ($250 billion), featuring subsidies to curb rising energy costs and cash handouts to low-income households, as inflation triggered by a weaker yen continues to weigh on consumer spending.

In the package, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's administration pledged to boost disposable incomes by raising the tax-free salary threshold, after it conceded to demands from an opposition party to secure the passage of a supplementary budget to finance it.

The move comes after Ishiba's Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner lost their majority in the House of Representatives in the general election on Oct. 27. He dissolved the lower house chamber shortly after he took office on Oct. 1.

Ishiba's government will try to pass a 13.9 trillion yen extra budget for the fiscal year through March 2025, during an extraordinary parliamentary session expected to convene next Thursday, lawmakers said.

The administration and local governments plan to spend around 21.9 trillion yen, even though Japan's fiscal health is the worst among major advanced economies, fanning criticism that the package is pork-barrel funding to prop up the popularity of Ishiba's Cabinet.

Japan's economy grew for the second consecutive quarter in the July-September period, buoyed by solid private spending on the back of the sharpest average wage hike in more than 30 years, agreed upon in this year's labor-management negotiations.

Concerns are mounting, however, that consumer sentiment may deteriorate again, as higher prices have shown little sign of easing soon due in part to the recent depreciation of the yen, which has pushed up import costs for resource-poor Japan.

With inflation outpacing wage growth and prompting households to tighten their purse strings, the new package aims to mitigate the negative impact of inflation and achieve Ishiba's cherished goal of revitalizing struggling regional economies.

The package is projected to lower consumer prices by about 0.3 percentage point, while driving up Japan's inflation-adjusted gross domestic product by an annual 1.2 percentage points, the Cabinet Office said.

Around 12.7 trillion yen will be used to provide relief for electricity, gas and gasoline price hikes. Cash benefits for low-income households exempt from resident tax and additional aid for those with children will also be distributed.

About 19.1 trillion yen will be allocated to take measures to stimulate the economy, with plans to roll out a multiyear support program exceeding 10 trillion yen for the artificial intelligence and semiconductor industries.

Another key pillar of the package is to ensure public security and safety, with roughly 7.2 trillion yen earmarked for the purpose, as Japan has faced a series of natural disasters and a rise in robbery cases involving perpetrators recruited online.

As part of efforts to map out the economic package, Ishiba's LDP and the Komeito party earlier this week accepted a request from a small but influential opposition party to increase the nontaxable income threshold from the current 1.03 million yen.

The Democratic Party for the People, headed by lower house lawmaker Yuichiro Tamaki who seeks to lift the ceiling to 1.78 million yen to bolster consumption, quadrupled its seats to 28 in the latest general election for the 465-member lower house.

The three parties have confirmed that they will continue discussions to determine the extent of the ceiling expansion, as the DPP's proposal is estimated to reduce state and local tax revenues by up to 8 trillion yen annually.

(By Satoshi Iizuka)