Some LDP Members Eye FY 2026 Budget Passage on April 7

Tokyo, March 29 (Jiji Press)--Now that the Japanese government's fiscal 2026 budget bill will likely not be enacted by the end of fiscal 2025 on Tuesday, some in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party are looking to pass the budget on April 7.

The government and ruling parties aim to get the budget bill through the Diet in the second half of next week, but the opposition camp is demanding "sufficient" deliberations on the bill.

Meanwhile, the government has submitted a stopgap budget bill to prepare for the possibility that the regular budget bill will not be enacted by the end of fiscal 2025. The ruling and opposition parties have agreed to pass the stopgap budget bill on Monday.

On March 13 , the regular budget bill was approved by the House of Representatives, the all-important lower chamber of the Diet, and sent to the House of Councillors, the upper chamber.

Although Prime Minister and LDP President Sanae Takaichi has not officially abandoned her goal of enacting the annual budget bill before fiscal 2026 starts on Wednesday, she has asked LDP executives in the Upper House to seek to pass the bill on Friday as the second-best option.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]