To galvanize an economy still reeling from the pandemic, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s administration approved a massive ¥55.7 trillion stimulus package Friday that includes support for struggling firms and controversial ¥100,000 handouts for children.
While the stimulus covers a range of policies and also includes reinforcements for a battered health care system ahead of a possible sixth wave of COVID-19 cases, many economists have raised doubts over whether it will help shore up the economy, saying some measures amount to pork-barrel spending.
The massive outlay will be funded by a ¥31.9 trillion fiscal 2021 extra budget while other costs will be included in the budget for fiscal 2022, which ends in March 2023. The total also includes spending by local governments, pushing it past the ¥48.4 trillion emergency stimulus compiled in April last year.