Prime Minister Fumio Kishida formally acknowledged on Monday that the administration will permit municipalities to distribute ¥100,000 handouts fully in cash by the end of the year, reversing their original plan that would allocate only half in cash within this year and the other half in coupons next spring for eligible households with children up to 18 years old.
“I have been saying that we need to promote flexible system design while coordinating with local governments, and we have been considering various system designs in response to such various discussions,” Kishida said during the Lower House budget committee meeting.
“Then, at the discretion of the local governments and according to local conditions, I would like to add the implementation of the current measures in the form of a lump-sum payment of ¥100,000 in cash, together with the ¥50,000 payment from the end of this year as one of the options.”