Japan FY 2020 budget requests hit record high

September 6, 2019

Tokyo--General-account budget requests from Japanese government agencies for fiscal 2020 have hit a record high of 104,999.8 billion yen, exceeding 100 trillion yen for the sixth straight year, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.

The total is up 3,542.7 billion yen, or 3.5 pct, from the fiscal 2019 initial budget, mainly reflecting a rise in social security expenditures against the backdrop of the country's aging population.

The fiscal 2019 budget was the first to top the 100-trillion-yen mark, totaling 101,457.1 billion yen, against the requested amount of 102,765.8 billion yen.

"We aim to draw up a high-quality budget appropriate in (the new Japanese era of) Reiwa so we won't be criticized for lax fiscal discipline," Kenichiro Ueno, state minister of finance, told a press conference.

Still, the government's initial budget seems certain to exceed 100 trillion yen for another year, given expected additional requests for measures to alleviate the impact of a consumption tax hike in October.

For the year starting in April 2020, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare requested a record 32,623.4 billion yen.

The Defense Ministry's request also hit a record high of 5,322.3 billion yen, including funds for measures in the fields of outer space and cyberspace.

Budget requests under a special framework for key policy challenges, including economic expansion and human resources development, came to 4,341.6 billion yen.

Requests linked to the fiscal investment and loan program dropped 10.6 pct to 11,731.5 billion yen, lowest since the program was revamped in fiscal 2001. Jiji Press