In response to the government’s decision to keep the selling price of imported wheat at the current level from next month onward as a countermeasure against soaring food prices, major milling companies announced one after another that they would keep the price of commercial flour unchanged.

Natural gas prices in the European market temporarily fell due to supply concerns after Russia’s state-owned gas company Gazprom announced it would suspend natural gas supply through a major pipeline to Germany from the end of this month, increased over 10%.

Japan is considering to deploy 1.000 long-range cruise missiles to increase its capability to ward off potential attack from China, quoted by CNN Indonesia.

Quoted from TEMPO.CO, the government and Bank of Indonesia launched seven new banknotes for the 2022 issue year or TE 2022 Money, Thursday, August 18, 2022. The seven 2022 TE money are officially valid, issued, and circulated in the territory of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) coincides with the 77th anniversary of Indonesia Independence, August 17, 2022.

The SoftBank Group, which had a final deficit of more than 3 trillion yen in its financial results from April to June, announced that it would sell part of its shares in Alibaba Group, China's largest online retailer. The aim is to strengthen the financial base, and as a result, it will be removed from the SoftBank Group's affiliates.

In an interview, Toshiki Kawai, president of Tokyo Electron, one of the world's major manufacturers of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, said that the stable supply of semiconductors has become an issue for Japan as part of its economic security. He showed the recognition that it is necessary to strengthen investment in research and development from a perspective.

Last month, it was found that the number of companies that went bankrupt due to high prices, such as soaring raw material prices, was the highest in the past five years. Research firms say that there is a possibility that the number of bankruptcies will increase in the future, especially among small and medium-sized enterprises, as they will not be able to pass on the costs to the sales price.

The SoftBank Group’s financial results for the entire group from April to June this year resulted in a significant deficit of 2,162.7 billion yen in final profit and loss. This was mainly due to the recording of valuation losses on the stocks of investees held in response to the slump un the global stock market.

The amount of money spent on leisure activities during this summer vacation is about 68,000 yen per household due to the increase in the number of people going on trips, and the survey results show that the new corona will recover to the level before the spread of infection.

As part of countermeasures against rising prices, the government has set aside the costs necessary to introduce a system that gives points to households that have saved a certain amount of electricity, and a system that subsidizes part of the price of fertilizer for farmers. We have decided to spend more than 250 billion yen from the reserve fund for the fiscal year.

The Ministry of Finance held a meeting of directors of the Treasury Bureau on the 27th, leaving the nation's economic judgment as "gradually picking up."

The Bank of Japan decided to maintain the current large-scale monetary easing policy at the monetary policy meeting held until the 21st, while the Central Bank of Europe decided to raise interest rates for the first time in 11 years.