Parliament enacts FY 2017 gov’t budget

March 27, 2017

TOKYO- Japan’s parliament enacted the government’s fiscal 2017 general-account budget worth a record 97,454.7 billion yen on Monday.

The House of Councillors, the upper chamber, approved the budget for the year starting Saturday with majority support mainly from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling coalition.

The approval came after the passage by the Upper House Budget Committee earlier in the day.

The budget cleared the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, on Feb. 27. The passage guaranteed that the budget would be enacted on Tuesday even without a vote by the Upper House due to the lower chamber’s constitutional supremacy over the Upper House.

The general-account budget is up 0.8 pct from the fiscal 2016 initial budget, hitting a record high for the fifth straight year.

The budget includes 73.9 trillion yen for policy expenditures, up 1.1 pct.

Among the policy expenditures, spending on social security measures was set at a record high of 32.4 trillion yen, up 1.6 pct, reflecting Japan’s aging society.

Social security spending was previously projected to grow by 640 billion yen, but the government limited the increase to just below 500 billion yen by taking steps such as raising the medical and nursing care burdens of wealthy elderly people.

The social security budget also includes spending aimed at improving the working conditions of nursery and care workers.

The government set aside record defense spending of 5.1 trillion yen, up 1.4 pct, to counter China’s increased maritime assertiveness and North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.

Debt-servicing costs were set at 23.5 trillion yen, falling 0.4 pct amid low interest rates reflecting the Bank of Japan’s easy monetary policy.

The general-account budget projects tax revenue of 57.7 trillion yen, up 0.2 pct. Fresh government bond issues were set at 34.3 trillion yen, down 0.2 pct and the seventh straight year of decline under the initial budget. Jiji Press