Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday told his administration to draw up a second supplementary budget for fiscal 2018 to fund disaster prevention measures and bolster the agricultural sector.
The extra budget, which is expected to be several trillion yen in size, will also fund measures to shore up the economy after a contraction in the July-September quarter due to a powerful earthquake and typhoon.
It will be submitted to the Diet in January.
The government is seeking funds to carry out improvements to infrastructure such as power plants, roads and airports found in nationwide inspections to be vulnerable to disasters.
It also hopes to ensure that farmers remain competitive after the entries into force of the 11-member Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement at the end of this year and an FTA with the European Union next February at the earliest.
The government has already set a record-high initial budget of ¥97.71 trillion for he year through March, and an earlier supplementary budget of ¥935.6 billion was enacted this month to aid disaster recovery.
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Prime Minister Shinzo Abe before a Cabinet meeting Tuesday morning | KYODO
