Govt submits extra budget bill to diet

Jiji Press

17:20 JST, November 21, 2022

Tokyo (Jiji Press) — The government on Monday submitted to the Diet a second supplementary budget bill for fiscal 2022 that calls for general-account spending of ¥28,922.2 billion to finance an economic package aimed chiefly at tackling soaring prices.

The government aims to enact the extra budget during the ongoing Diet session scheduled to end on Dec. 10.

In the extra budget, the government sets aside ¥29,086.1 billion in expenses related to the economic package while cutting existing expenditures by over ¥1 trillion.

Over ¥6 trillion will be spent to alleviate the financial burden of soaring electricity, gas and gasoline costs.

The extra budget secures ¥958.2 billion to bolster supply chains for liquefied natural gas and other strategically important goods, while ¥126.7 billion will be used to provide ¥100,000 in pregnancy and childbirth benefits.

The budget also earmarks ¥4.74 trillion in reserve funds, including ¥1 trillion to cover emergency spending to cope with the economic impact of the conflict in Ukraine.

To finance the extra budget, the government will issue an additional ¥22,852 billion in bonds, bringing the total amount of new bonds issued in fiscal 2022, which ends in March next year, to ¥62,478.9 billion, or 44.9% of total revenue.

The outstanding amount of ordinary government bonds is estimated at ¥1,042 trillion at the end of fiscal 2022.