Japan's Ministry of Finance is set to approve a record budget for the next fiscal year. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's new government said that they would need more money to minimize the negative consequences of the pandemic and revive the economy.
The general account spending requests for the fiscal year came in at 105.4071 trillion yen ($996.85 billion), exceeding the previous high of 105 trillion notched in the current fiscal year. The allocated money will be spent to contain the spread of the virus and ease the pain from the economic fallout. "We remain committed to achieving both economic revival and fiscal reform, and we will overcome the coronavirus crisis to pass the future on to the next generation,” Wataru Ito, State Minister of Finance, pinpointed. Notably, the requested amount may become even higher. Many departments have not indicated a specific amount of expenses yet, leaving room to swell the total figure as the Finance Ministry will determine the long-awaited 2021 state budget only in late December.
Two extra stimulus budgets compiled for this fiscal year to combat the coronavirus will increase overall government spending to about 160 trillion yen, which is 1.6 times higher than the initial budget.
