2024 RT Amination Banner.gif

China Daily

Asia Pacific> Asia News> Content
Wednesday, December 06, 2017, 23:18
Japan 'to compile US$25.9b extra budget' to boost missile defense
By Reuters
Wednesday, December 06, 2017, 23:18 By Reuters

This Sept 19, 2017 photo shows Patriot Advanced Capability-3 interceptor missile system (PAC3) deployed at the Hakodate base of Japan's Self-Defense Forces, in Hakodate, northern Japan. Japan moved a mobile missile-defense system on the northern island of Hokkaido to a base near flyover routes of a missile fired by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. (KYODO NEWS VIA AP)

TOKYO - Japan's government is set to compile a supplementary budget of around 2.9 trillion yen (US$25.9 billion) for the fiscal year through March to cover spending on missile defense amid tensions over the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), and for new economic measures, government officials said Wednesday. 

Sources said Japan is preparing to acquire precision air-launched missiles that would give it the capability to strike DPRK missile sites

The DPRK has tested dozens of ballistic missiles, two of which flew over Japan, and conducted its sixth and largest nuclear bomb test in September.

READ MORE: Japan deploys interceptor near DPRK missile flight path

Japan is preparing to acquire precision air-launched missiles that for the first time would give it the capability to strike DPRK missile sites, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said earlier this week. 

The extra budget will also be used to provide financial assistance for small and medium-sized companies to encourage innovation and to build more children's nurseries for families with working parents. 

ALSO READ: US, Japan step up defense cooperation

Both are part of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's new "productivity revolution" policy. 

The budget will also earmark money to help the country cope with any negative fallout from free trade agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, and the Economic Partnership Agreement with the EU. 

To finance the extra budget, the government plans to sell about 1.2 trillion yen of construction bonds and cover most of the rest with leftover debt servicing money. 

The government, for years, has overestimated debt servicing costs when compiling an initial budget and used the remainder for extra budgets.

Share this story