The Cabinet approved Wednesday a draft second extra budget for fiscal 2016 to stimulate the flagging economy, bringing total public outlays for the year through March to over ¥100 trillion.
The extra budget reflects Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push to lift the world's third-biggest economy out of chronic deflation. But it also underscores the government's reliance on debt despite its pledge to rehabilitate the nation's fiscal health, the worst among major developed countries.
This fiscal year's initial and two supplementary budgets total ¥100.01 trillion, topping the ¥100 trillion mark for the first time in three years. The government has enacted a record ¥96.72 trillion initial budget for the fiscal year to cope with swelling social security costs amid a rapidly aging society.