Japan Opposition to Grill PM on Extra Budget in Leaders' Debate

Tokyo, May 17 (Jiji Press)--Japan's opposition parties are set to grill Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi over plans to compile a fiscal 2026 supplementary budget aimed at addressing rising crude oil prices and inflation amid continued turmoil in the Middle East, during a party leaders' debate on Wednesday.

Although Takaichi, also president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, has begun considering compiling such an extra budget, the opposition is poised to criticize the government for being slow to respond.

It will be the first debate between party chiefs in the ongoing session of the Diet, the country's parliament.

The prime minister had insisted in Diet deliberations that she did not believe a supplementary budget was immediately necessary, despite repeated calls by the opposition to prepare one. After the government later began considering drawing up an extra budget, opposition lawmakers said that the about-face was "no surprise, but too late."

"Many people are struggling due to renewed inflation," Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the Democratic Party for the People, told reporters Friday. "I want to convey this directly to the prime minister in the party leaders' debate."

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]