
| Japan
Japan earmarks 543bn yen for job creation<
TOKYO - The cabinet decided on and submitted to the parliament Thursday morning a fiscal 1999 supplementary budget calling for emergency spending of 542.9 billion yen to help create jobs. Japan's first supplementary budget for the current fiscal year will be used to provide wage subsidies and funds for training to firms that will hire employees from slumping industries.
Of the total, 519.8 billion yen will be earmarked in the general account budget, while the remaining 23.1 billion yen is earmarked in the special account budget. By using reserves and reallocations from fiscal 1998, the government will avoid issuing new bonds to finance the supplementary spending. The budget could be passed as early as July 19.
At a press conference after the day's cabinet meeting, Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa responded coolly to calls for a second supplementary budget covering public works projects. ''I expect the latest package to be effective in supporting employment,'' Miyazawa said. ''We don't need to consider another spending until we see how the economy has performed in the April-June quarter."
Japan's budget deficit as a percentage of GDP will be 7.3 percent including the proposed supplementary budget. The figure rises to 9.3 percent should deficit spending by local governments be taken into account.
(Asia Pulse/Nikkei)
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