Govt. Submits Fy2022 Draft Budget To Diet
Japan's government has submitted a record draft budget to the Diet for the fiscal year that begins in April. The package earmarks funds for anti-coronavirus measures.
The government formally approved the draft budget for fiscal 2022 at a Cabinet meeting on Monday before submitting it to the ordinary Diet session.
The draft budget totals 107 trillion, 596 billion yen, or about 940 billion dollars. That's up more than 8.6 billion dollars from the initial budget for the current fiscal year.
A record amount of around 317 billion dollars would be allocated to cover social security costs, including medical care and nursing care for the elderly, to meet the demands of Japan's aging population.
The figure also includes funding for wage hikes for workers in the nursing and nursing-care sectors.
The government also proposes spending nearly 47 billion dollars on defense. The cost of servicing Japan's public debt is pegged at more than 212 billion dollars.
About 43 billion dollars would be set aside for reserve funds to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. Such funds can be spent without Diet approval.
The government expects to collect a record 65.2 trillion yen, or 570 billion dollars, in tax revenue on the back of a recovery in corporate earnings.
The issuance of government bonds is expected to surpass 322 billion dollars. This figure would account for 34 percent of total revenue.