The 77.67 trillion yen fiscal 1998 national budget was passed by the Diet late April 8 in a House of Councilors plenary session vote.
The vote was carried through the chamber's Budget Committee with majority support of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the Social Democratic Party earlier in the day.
A proposed chamber resolution that would have called on the state to take proper pump-priming steps did not materialize due to the opposition's demands that the government's responsibility for the lackluster economy be clearly stated in the document.