A key ruling party lawmaker said an extra budget being drafted now may not be the end of Japan’s stimulus spending this fiscal year given the uncertainty surrounding the spread of the coronavirus.
"There are a lot of possibilities,” said Keisuke Suzuki, who heads the Liberal Democratic Party’s fiscal and financial policy unit, in an interview. A third extra budget is being pulled together now, "but a fourth extra budget isn’t out of the question if the situation changes.”
The openness to more spending, even before the latest stimulus package is finalized, underscores the concern among policy makers that rising waves of the virus could derail the recovery. Tokyo and Osaka last week called on some businesses to close early, while the northern prefecture of Hokkaido asked restaurants to shut altogether to stem the virus’s spread, measures that could slow the economy’s rebound.