Japan to approve $314bn supplementary budget for stimulus package
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Japan's cabinet is set to approve a record 36 trillion yen ($314 billion) supplementary budget for fiscal 2021 on Friday to fund the government's latest economic stimulus.
The first extra budget for the current fiscal year from April requires new national bond issuance worth 22.1 trillion yen, which might hurt Japan's fiscal health, reports Xinhua news agency.
Japan's total new debt issuance for fiscal 2021 will exceed 65 trillion yen, which is smaller than the amount in the previous fiscal year when the government compiled three extra budgets totalling about 73 trillion yen to curb the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Japanese government also plans to use 6.1 trillion yen, which was carried over from the fiscal 2020 budget.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has said his administration aims to pass the supplementary budget in an extraordinary parliamentary session to be held next month.
Under the extra budget, 18.6 trillion yen will be used for measures to fight the virus and relax the economic impact of the pandemic, including 1.7 trillion yen to increase funds for the government's unemployment insurance system amid growing payment for allowances to furloughed workers.
To restart the "Go To Travel" program, a government subsidized amount of 268.5 billion yen will be used to promote domestic tourism. The program was suspended nationwide last December due to a resurgence of the Covid-19 infections.
A week ago, the cabinet approved the government's new economic package, worth about 78.9 trillion yen including private funds.
