Prime Minister Shinzo Abe signaled Monday that he would be open to compiling a secondary supplementary budget, as he was forced to defend his administration’s response to the impacts of the new coronavirus under pressure from opposition party lawmakers.
Speaking before the Lower House Budget Committee, Abe stopped short of clearly affirming the government’s commitment to drawing up another extra budget, but said it would do whatever was necessary during the current Diet session to combat the spread of the pandemic.
Noting that a government panel on coronavirus experts is set to convene on Thursday, Abe said the panel would “assess the coronavirus situation in individual municipalities and provide a verdict on whether there are any areas where the state of emergency measures can be lifted.”