Japan Budget Requests Hit Second-Highest Level

Tokyo, Sept. 5 (Jiji Press)--General-account budget requests from Japanese government agencies for fiscal 2023, which starts next April, totaled 110,048.4 billion yen, the second-highest on record after the 111,655.9 billion yen sought for fiscal 2022, the Finance Ministry said Monday.

The latest budget requests feature a record spending request from the Defense Ministry, an increase in debt-serving costs following massive spending on measures to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and higher social security spending attributable to the aging population.

The total is likely to swell further during the budget compilation process toward year-end as agencies have requested spending on many items without specifying how much they need. Such requests included measures related to defense and the fight against soaring prices.

Total general-account spending under a final budget plan, due out late this year, is highly likely to hit a record on an initial basis, eclipsing the current high of 107,596.4 billion yen marked in fiscal 2022.

Total budget requests topped 100 trillion yen for the ninth consecutive year.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]