Budget requests by Japan's central government offices for a new fiscal year from next April are expected to exceed ¥101 trillion ($1 trillion), government sources said Thursday.
The requests for the general-account budget for fiscal 2017 will top ¥100 trillion for the third straight year, reflecting increasing social security costs amid a rapidly aging society and expenses to fund key policies of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
The requests are likely to be some ¥5 trillion higher than the fiscal 2016 initial budget but fall around ¥1 trillion short of the record ¥102.4 trillion requested for the fiscal 2016 budget, as low interest rates will reduce debt servicing costs.