Japan’s economic stimulus exceeds $ 265 billion, demands new debt -by Kyodo Reuters

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan is considering an economic promotion package worth more than 30 trillion yen ($ 265 billion) aimed at alleviating the pain of the COVID-19 pandemic, a plan that would require new debt, Kyodo news reported.

Part of the spending will come from funds raised from last year’s budget, Kyodo announced Sunday night.

The governing panel tasked with drawing up a plan for the so-called new style of capitalism under Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will make proposals on Monday that will set the focus of the planned stimulus package.

Kishida has promised to complete a large-scale stimulus package this month, with the government aiming to get parliament approved by the end of this year. Kishida, however, is left unspecified as to the exact size of the expenditure and the amount of the additional debt.

The Yomiuri newspaper reported last week that approximately 2 trillion yen had been spent to pay families with children cash – or 100,000 yen per child – as part of the stimulus plan.

The government wanted to include other measures in the stimulus package aimed at supporting consumption, as the coronavirus pandemic has taken a major hit.

Some economists hope to boost spending in the service sector after the pandemic to boost the world’s third-largest economy in the coming months as a persistent shortage of global supply puts pressure on output and exports.

Among the items planned to be included in the package were the relaunch of a campaign to promote domestic tourism and the implementation of a 10 trillion yen fund for university research, Sankei newspaper reported on Friday.

To pay for the package, it is likely that the government will use about 4.5 trillion yen left over from the 2020 settlement of accounts and more than 10 trillion yen in other unspent funds carried over from that year, and would consider issuing new debt. cover more deficiencies, Sankei said.

The government plans to roll out the additional budget along with the regular budget for the next fiscal year, which will begin in April 2022, as a 15-month consolidated budget because it wants to perfectly fund its efforts, the newspaper said.

($ 1 = 113,3500 yen)