Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's fiscal 2014 draft budget has sparked debate over whether he has significantly increased the public works budget in a major policy shift from his predecessor administrations led by the Democratic Party of Japan.
Under the fiscal 2014 draft budget adopted Tuesday by the Cabinet, funding for roads, railways, bridges and other social infrastructure will surge 12.9 percent from this year to ¥5.97 trillion despite the snowballing national debt that already exceeds 200 percent of gross domestic product.
But much of the increase can be attributed to the melding of a special public works account with the general account, and public works spending will really increase only 1.9 percent, according to the Finance Ministry.