Antidisaster Steps to Be Funded outside FY 2019 Budget Request Guidelines

November 6, 2018

Tokyo--Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe indicated on Monday that disaster management measures to be compiled by year-end in the wake of a series of natural disasters this summer will be financed, massively, outside the scope of the fund request guidelines for the government's fiscal 2019 budget.

Asked about how to finance such steps, Abe told a House of Councillors Budget Committee meeting that the government will use a framework for "extraordinary and special measures" planned for fiscal 2019 and fiscal 2020.

Mainly among the measures will be those aimed at alleviating impacts of the planned consumption tax hike from 8 pct to 10 pct in October next year and keeping the economy afloat.

"We'll further accelerate our efforts to make the country more resilient (to disasters) by securing necessary funds," Abe stressed.

The government plans to proceed with pump-priming and antidisaster measures simultaneously by carrying out public works projects intended to minimize disaster damage after the tax hike.

With antidisaster measures set to be conducted outside the scope of the fiscal 2019 budget request guidelines, meanwhile, the government may come under increased pressure for upping its spending, pundits said, adding that the government's fiscal 2019 draft budget, seen to be drawn up late this year, may top 100 trillion yen in the first such phenomenon ever.

Following the series of disasters, including heavy rain that hit western Japan in July and a powerful earthquake in Hokkaido, northernmost Japan, in September, the government is inspecting important infrastructure, such as transport systems and power facilities, across the nation.

The government is expected to compile the results of the inspection by the end of this month and reflect them in its budget compilation work. Jiji Press