The Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday approved a draft budget for fiscal 2019 that had to be reworked to add ¥650 million in costs arising from the labor ministry's publishing of faulty jobs data.
The update of the spending plan sets an embarrassing precedent for the government. The additional costs will be tacked on to a record ¥101.46 trillion that has been allocated to the general account budget.
The earlier version of the budget was approved by the Cabinet in December and was ready to be submitted to the upcoming Diet session, which is expected to be convened on Jan. 28.