Japan’s government approved on Saturday stimulus spending worth $29 billion aimed at helping the country’s lagging regions and households through steps like subsidies and merchandise vouchers, but analysts are skeptical about how much the government can spur growth, the International New York Times reported. The package, worth 3.5 trillion yen (about $29 billion) was unveiled two weeks after a huge election victory by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling coalition gave him a fresh mandate to push through his stimulus policies, known as Abenomics.

Japan’s recession was deeper than initially estimated as company investment unexpectedly shrank, a blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as he campaigns for re-election on his economic credentials, Bloomberg News reported. The economy shrank an annualized 1.9 percent in the July-to- September period from the previous quarter, weaker than the 1.6 percent contraction reported in preliminary data. The result was also below every forecast in a Bloomberg News survey that showed a median 0.5 percent decrease.

Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Japan’s credit rating today, highlighting the challenges facing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as he tries to stoke inflation and growth, the Wall Street Journal reported today. In explaining its move, Moody’s cited heightened uncertainty over Japan’s ability to cut its fiscal deficit after Abe decided last month to delay an increase in the national sales tax scheduled to take effect next year.

Japan is pushing to rescue its floundering economy with a third big economic stimulus, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe prepared to face snap elections amid rising clamor over the wisdom of his “Abenomics” reforms. A surprise announcement early Monday that the economy contracted for a second straight quarter makes it “absolutely necessary to take countermeasures,’’ said Etsuro Honda, an architect of Mr. Abe’s economic policy, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. He called for a new $25 billion in cash handouts and tax cuts.

Japan’s economy unexpectedly shrank in the third quarter, according to government data released there on Monday, extending a painful slump triggered by an increase in the national sales tax and making it more likely that policy makers will put off a second tax hike scheduled to take effect next year, the International New York Times reported. The two-stage tax increase has become an all-consuming political issue in Japan, to the point that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is considering dissolving Parliament and calling fresh elections, people close to him say.

Economist Paul Krugman thinks that if Japan’s sales tax reaches 10%, it could mean a disastrous return to deflation, The Wall Street Journal Japan Real Time blog reported. In an interview published this week in Shukan Gendai, a weekly Japanese magazine, Mr. Krugman, a Princeton University economist and New York Times columnist, weighed in on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic policy as Mr. Abe’s administration closes in on the two-year mark in December. Saying that Mr. Abe has listened to the wrong people, Mr.

Tuesday marked another milestone in the topsy-turvy world of monetary easing in Japan: The Bank of Japan bought short-term Japanese government debt at a negative yield for the first time, according to market participants, The Wall Street Journal reported. The BOJ scooped up some of the three-month No. 477 Treasury bill, which has traded at a negative yield for the past two trading days amid strong demand, the market participants said. Normally, people who buy debt expect to get their money back plus some interest. Negative yield means the buyer gets back less than he or she puts in.

Japan’s economy contracted more than the government initially estimated, highlighting the challenge for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in steering the nation through the aftermath of a sales-tax increase, Bloomberg News reported. Gross domestic product contracted an annualized 7.1 percent in the three months through June, more than a preliminary reading of a 6.8 percent fall, the Cabinet Office said today in Tokyo. The median forecast of 25 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a 7 percent drop.

It was an odd sort of rallying cry. Just after Sadakazu Tanigaki’s appointment as secretary-general of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic party on Wednesday, the former finance minister said that taxes on consumption should go up again next year, according to the law passed two years ago, the Financial Times reported. Higher taxes “contribute to fiscal stability and help expand policy options”, he said, noting only that “side-effects” should be monitored.

Japanese chipmaker Renesas Electronics may cut more jobs as it finishes a massive restructuring that is focusing its business on the automotive and industrial sectors and has pulled it back into the black after years of losses, Reuters reported. Remaining steps will focus on selling factories and exiting businesses announced in a 2012 restructuring framework, updated a year ago, with about 40 percent of the plan still to be implemented, Renesas Chairman and CEO Hisao Sakuta told a media round table on Tuesday. "To be honest, maybe we still have slightly too many people," Sakuta said.