Japan FY 2017 extra budget enacted

February 1, 2018

Tokyo- The Diet, Japan's parliament, on Thursday approved the government's 2,707.3-billion-yen supplementary budget for fiscal 2017, which mainly calls for spending to address the issue of nursery waiting lists.

The House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet, passed the extra budget by a majority vote with support from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition ally, Komeito, along with the opposition Nippon Ishin no Kai, at a plenary meeting.

The extra budget, which passed the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, on Tuesday, was approved by the Upper House Budget Committee earlier on Thursday.

The ruling and opposition parties agreed the same day to start deliberations on Friday on the fiscal 2018 draft main budget totaling a record 97,712.8 billion yen. The ruling camp hopes the budget will be approved by the Lower House in late February and enacted in March, before the new fiscal year starts in April.

The fiscal 2017 supplementary budget includes costs for establishing child care facilities earlier than previously planned and promoting recovery work following heavy rain in the northern part of the Kyushu southwestern Japan region last summer.

It also sets aside spending related to the installation of the U.S.-developed Aegis Ashore land-based missile defense system in preparation for North Korean missile launches, as well as on support measures for farmers likely to be affected by an economic partnership agreement for free trade between Japan and the European Union.

Another feature of the extra budget is expenditures on projects linked to a "revolution" in human resources development and productivity growth, key policies for the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Jiji Press