Japan's lower house passes temporary budget for fiscal 2013
2013-03-28 18:15:15
The lower house of Japan's bicameral Diet on Thursday passed a temporary budget for fiscal 2013 starting April 1 to fund the government spending for 50 days, as the initial budget for the year is unlikely to be enacted until May, local media reported.
The 13.2-trillion-yen stopgap budget (about 140.3 billion U.S. dollars) is set to be the biggest ever of its kind, exceeding the 11.6 trillion yen stopgap budget endorsed in fiscal 1996, according to Kyodo News Agency.
About 5.43 trillion yen, the biggest share of the budget, will be allocated to social security spending, while about 3.67 trillion yen will go in grants to local governments, said Kyodo, citing Japan's Finance Ministry.
The budget is scheduled to be voted on the House of Councilors, the upper house, on Friday and expected to be enacted the same day, according to the report.