As speculation over a potential snap election intensifies, the government has deferred a detailed announcement on how it plans to fund a robust increase in child care spending.
During the latest meeting of a related government commission on Thursday, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida declared that his administration intends to spend over ¥3.5 trillion annually on child care over the next three years, in the process enlarging the government's contribution to higher education and beefing up child allowances.
However, the government failed to provide a detailed outline of the necessary funding for the measures, saying it would postpone the announcement to the end of the year, after further scrutiny during the drafting of the budget for the fiscal year from next April. A rough sketch of the figures was presented, but the specifics on how to reach those numbers have not yet been hammered out.