Japan diet approves FY 2019 extra budget for stimulus

January 30, 2020

Tokyo--The Diet on Thursday approved the Japanese government's fiscal 2019 supplementary budget for total spending of 4,472.2 billion yen on economic stimulus and disaster prevention measures.

The extra budget cleared the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Japanese parliament, on the day, with a majority support from lawmakers in the ruling bloc and some others. The House of Representatives, the lower chamber, approved the budget on Tuesday.

The government will sell deficit-covering bonds to raise 2,229.7 billion yen in the extra budget. The additional issue of such bonds during a fiscal year will be the first in three years.

In the budget, 2,308.6 billion yen is earmarked for disaster prevention measures, including the reinforcement of levees and other river facilities.

It also includes 1,077.1 billion yen for measures to avert an economic slowdown after the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics this summer, and 917.3 billion yen for measures to help small businesses and farmers prepare for overseas economic slowdowns.

For the budget, the government will use 801.6 billion yen of surplus funds from fiscal 2018. Jiji Press