Japan Press Weekly

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2020 June 10 - 16 TOP3 [POLITICS]

2nd supplementary budget for coronavirus countermeasures enacted

The second supplementary draft budget for FY 2020 aimed at financing coronavirus countermeasures was passed and enacted at the House of Councilors plenary meeting on June 12. The 32 trillion yen budget includes the reserve fund of 10 trillion yen. The Japanese Communist Party voted against the draft budget on the grounds that the reserve fund is too large.

Later on the day at a press conference in the Diet building, JCP Secretariat Head Koike Akira commented on the passage of the budget, and said that the draft budget reflects demands from the general public and opposition parties to some extent, including an improvement in the employment adjustment subsidy and a financial support for rent payments by cash-strapped small business owners. On the other hand, Koike pointed out that the reserve fund alone makes up one third of the total amount of the proposed budget.

Koike noted that the state fiscal management should receive the Diet’s permission in advance under constitutional principle, but the use of the 10-trillion-yen reserve fund does not need the Diet’s prior approval and therefore it goes counter to the spirit of the Constitution and financial democracy. Koike said that during WWII, the then government in 1943 compiled a budget with the reserve fund of 1.58 billion yen, adding that even at that time, the reserves constituted less than 11% of the total. He stressed that it is irrational for the reserve fund in the second supplementary budget to account for one third of the total.

Koike said that faced with criticism from opposition parties and the general public, the government outlined the planned use of five trillion yen of the 10-trillion-yen reserves. He emphasized that the government should extend the current Diet session and discuss the use of the five trillion yen. He urged the government to reconsider the use of the remaining five trillion yen.

Past related articles:
> JCP Shiokawa calls for lowering 10-trillion-yen reserves in supplementary budget [June 4, 2020]
> Shii comments on gov’t-proposed 2nd supplementary budget [May 29, 2020]