Japan parliament passes FY 2020 budget with record 102.6-t.-yen spending

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27 Mar 2020 03:03:53 GMT9

TOKYO: The Diet, Japan's parliament, on Friday enacted the government's fiscal 2020 budget that calls for record general-account spending of 102,658 billion yen.

The budget for the year starting next month was approved at a plenary meeting of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet, by a majority vote, with support mainly from the ruling coalition.

The Diet also passed tax reform legislation that includes incentives for startup investments.

The government is shifting its economic policy focus to a fiscal 2020 supplementary budget to finance a proposed package of additional stimulus measures aimed at protecting the economy against the impact of the coronavirus outbreak.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to instruct his ministers shortly to compile the extra budget.

The ruling bloc expects the stimulus package to be the largest-ever, eclipsing the 56.8-trillion-yen program assembled following the 2008 global financial crisis.

The ruling coalition aims to enact the extra budget before the Golden Week holidays starting late April.

The amount of general-account spending under the fiscal 2020 initial budget was up 1.2 pct from that under the previous year's initial budget, topping 100 trillion yen for the second straight year.

Social security costs increased 5.1 pct to 35,860.8 billion yen, due to rising medical expenses amid an aging society, and the introduction of free-of-charge preschool education programs.

Defense costs grew 1.1 pct to 5,313.3 billion yen including outlays for strengthening defense capabilities in new fields such as outer space and cyberspace.

The budget also includes economic measures to mitigate the impact of last October's consumption tax increase.

JIJI Press

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Japan parliament passes FY 2020 budget with record 102.6-t.-yen spending

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