Japan’s government yesterday approved a record-high budget, vowing to take “unprecedented” action to weather a painful recession that is expected to only get worse in the new year.
The Cabinet sent to parliament a budget of ¥88.55 trillion (US$980 billion) for the year from April next year that covers tax cuts and cash rebates but slashes foreign aid and worsens an already ballooning debt.
“We need to take unprecedented measures when in an extraordinary economic situation,” Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso told a news conference soon after his Cabinet approved the budget.
“Japan cannot evade this tsunami of world recession. But by taking bold measures, we aim to be the world’s first to come out of recession,” he said.
He warned he expected “conditions next year around the world to drop rapidly.”
Japan’s economy, the world’s second-largest, has contracted for two straight quarters as demand overseas dries up for its cars, electronics and other exports.
In only three months in office, Aso’s own approval rating has plunged alongside the economy, with recent polls showing that the opposition is more popular than his long-dominant Liberal Democratic Party.
Aso demanded that the opposition — which controls parliament’s less powerful upper house — quickly act on the budget.
He ruled out calling an immediate election, though one must take place by September.
“Now that we are in the midst of a once-in-a-century crisis, we are not in a position to talk about such things. I think it’s impossible,” Aso said.
But shortly after his remarks, a ranking member of his party sided with the opposition in urging him to call elections.
In a visible show of defiance, Yoshimi Watanabe, the former minister for administrative reforms, stood from his seat in the lower house to vote for the opposition-sponsored resolution.
“Only elections can break the deadlock,” Watanabe, son of a former deputy prime minister, told reporters afterwards.
The measure, however, was rejected by the ruling bloc, which controls the powerful house.
Aso offered an unusually vigorous explanation of his budget.
Breaking tradition with Japanese prime ministers who speak from a lectern, Aso took a hand microphone and a pointer to show his government’s economic proposals.
The government distributed colorful documents outlining the measures, including cartoons of happy people enjoying tax cuts and cash payouts.
The general-account budget for the next fiscal year comes to an all-time high of ¥88.55 trillion, up 6.6 percent from this fiscal year’s initial budget.
Issuance of government bonds soars 31.3 percent from last year to ¥33.29 trillion to make up for an expected drop in tax revenue. Japan already has the biggest public debt of any major economy as a percentage of GDP.
The spending increase reflects an emergency economic package that Aso announced earlier this month and includes tax cuts for homeowners, loans for unemployed workers and public cash injections to banks.
Aso plans to distribute ¥2 trillion back to households in cash stipends, worth ¥64,000 (US$700 dollars) for a family of working-age parents and two children.
He has also urged business leaders to rethink their thousands of job cuts, saying they would only hurt the economy further.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat