Japan to increase public works spending for 6th year

December 21, 2017

Tokyo- The Japanese government plans to boost public works spending for the sixth straight year on an initial budget basis in fiscal 2018, which starts next April, informed sources told Jiji Press on Wednesday.

The government will earmark 5,978.9 billion yen for public works spending under its fiscal 2018 draft budget, up by 2.6 billion yen from the previous year, the sources said.

Public works spending had been on the decline on an initial budget basis since hitting a peak in fiscal 1997, but started growing again after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe returned to power in December 2012.

Spending in fiscal 2018 will focus on infrastructure development aimed at improving productivity as well as measures to prepare for floods and anticipated powerful earthquakes.

The amount of public works spending will grow if the government adopts a supplementary budget later in fiscal 2018 to implement additional measures to cope with disasters.

The government plans to set aside 1,256.7 billion yen for disaster reconstruction and antidisaster measures under a fiscal 2017 supplementary budget plan, which is expected to be adopted on Friday together with the fiscal 2018 budget.

The government is also expected to increase official development assistance outlays under the fiscal 2018 budget to promote efforts to achieve a free and open Indo-Pacific region. Jiji Press