Gov’t OKs 2.7 trillion yen extra budget for FY 2017

December 22, 2017

Tokyo- Japan's government on Friday adopted a fiscal 2017 draft supplementary budget with additional spending of 2,707.3 billion yen.

The extra budget, adopted at a cabinet meeting, includes 482.2 billion yen for measures designed to bring about "revolutions" in human resources development and productivity, a new priority area for the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Of the spending, 80.8 billion yen will be for increasing the capacity of nurseries in an effort to reduce the number of children on waiting lists.

The government will allocates 346.5 billion yen for supporting domestic farmers who would be affected by a Japan-European Union economic partnership agreement and the new Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement among Japan and 10 other nations, excluding the United States.

Specifically, it aims to strengthen the competitiveness of cheese makers and expand exports of agriculture, forestry and fisheries products. Japan hopes to put both free trade pacts into effect in early 2019.

The draft extra budget also calls for distributing 62.2 billion yen for programs, including the introduction of the Aegis Ashore ground-based missile defense system following North Korea's repeated test-firing of ballistic missiles.

In addition, 1,256.7 billion yen will be earmarked for steps to accelerate the reconstruction of disaster-hit areas, including the northern part of the Kyushu southwestern region, which was heavily damaged by torrential rain and flooding in early July, and for disaster reduction measures.

Of the amount, 913.1 billion yen will be used mainly to cover costs for emergency inspections of smaller rivers.

The government plans to finance part of the supplementary budget by issuing additional bonds worth 1,184.8 billion yen, and utilizing 1,241.6 billion yen in unused funds and a surplus from fiscal 2016. Jiji Press