Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s government is planning ¥30,000 ($192) cash handouts to help low-income households cope with higher prices as it fleshes out the details of an upcoming economic package, according to the latest draft of the plans seen by Bloomberg. In addition to the ¥30,000 handouts, the government plans to give low-income households an extra ¥20,000 per child, according to the updated proposals seen Thursday. The government also plans to reinstate subsidies for electricity and gas bills from January through March.

China is cutting taxes for homebuyers and developers, as the government tries to put a floor under falling prices and sustain an improvement in housing transactions, Bloomberg News reported. The nation lowered home purchase deed taxes to 1% for first- and second-house buyers of flats of 140 square meters and below, from a current level of as much as 3%, according to a joint statement on Wednesday by the Ministry of Finance, State Taxation Administration and Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.

South Korean police have arrested 215 people on suspicion of stealing 320 billion won ($228.4 million) in the biggest cryptocurrency investment scam in the country, Reuters reported. Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police said on Wednesday the arrests included the alleged mastermind of the organised crime group accused of selling 28 types of virtual tokens to about 15,000 people by promising high returns. Police said the group had issued six of the 28 tokens on overseas crypto exchanges and were managing a team of market makers to push up prices. Police described the tokens as "worthless".

Filing for insolvency will soon be simpler and more cost-effective as Singapore moves to revamp and make permanent the Simplified Insolvency Programme (SIP), the Singapore Business Review reported. The government, through the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution (Amendment) Bill, has put forward changes to the Simplified Debt Restructuring Programme (SDRP) and Simplified Winding Up Programme (SWUP) under the SIP.

The Australian government said on Tuesday it would provide up to A$80 million ($52.6 million) to airline Regional Express Holdings to keep its regional routes running during an extended voluntary administration process, Reuters reported. Terms of the financing package were not disclosed.

China’s consumer prices edged up in October, while factory-gate prices continued to decline, underscoring the challenges Beijing faces in battling deflationary pressures despite a recent stimulus push, the Wall Street Journal reported. China’s consumer-price index rose 0.3% from a year last month, compared with the 0.4% gain seen in September, according to data released Saturday by the National Bureau of Statistics. The producer-price index, meanwhile, fell 2.9% in October, for a 25th straight month of decline.

Japan's service-sector sentiment worsened and bankruptcy cases rose in October, data showed on Monday, casting doubt on the central bank's view the country was on track to meet its 2% inflation target driven by robust domestic demand, Reuters reported. The findings align with concerns voiced by some Bank of Japan (BOJ) board members at last month's policy meeting that intensifying labour shortages could constrain growth, rather than lead to higher wages.

Indonesia has opened a six-month window until May 2025 for certain businesses to receive full loan forgiveness from state banks, a policy that aims to boost loan and economic growth, according to details of a new regulation, Reuters reported. Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto last week signed off on a government regulation that allows state lenders to fully write off bad debts of certain micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which are major contributors to Indonesia's gross domestic product.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday signed a law that lowers corporate income taxes and boosts incentives for businesses, in a bid to spur more investment into one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies, Bloomberg News reported. The Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises to Maximize Opportunities for Reinvigorating the Economy, or CREATE MORE Act, reduces the corporate income tax rate for businesses registered with investment agencies to 20% from 25%.

Thailand is set to appoint former Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong as the new Bank of Thailand chairman, a sign of the government seeking to tighten its grip over the central bank with which it has sparred over monetary policy and inflation targets, Bloomberg News reported. Kittiratt, a critic of the BOT’s hawkish monetary policy and a former member of the ruling Pheu Thai party, was picked as the new chairman at a near five-hour meeting of the selection panel on Monday, according to people familiar with the matter. Thai media earlier reported that Kittiratt was selected.