UPDATE 1-Japan's ruling coalition calls for Y10-trln spending in extra budget -Nikkei

Japan's ruling coalition lawmakers will urge the government to compile a supplementary budget with spending sized at 10 trillion yen ($92.20 billion), the Nikkei newspaper reported on Thursday.

The requests focus on spending for disaster relief from a string of typhoons that struck Japan earlier this year and funding to help farmers cope with fallout from a U.S.-Japan trade deal that opens up some markets to U.S. products, the paper said. The agreement, made in a meeting between senior officials of Japan's ruling coalition on Wednesday, underscores concern among lawmakers over growing economic uncertainty as a sales tax hike in October and slowing global demand weigh on private consumption and exports.

"We need a huge supplementary budget sized at least around 10 trillion yen," Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) heavyweight Toshihiro Nikai was quoted as saying on Wednesday. "Japan's economic outlook has become uncertain due to the impact from the sales tax hike, natural disasters and the U.S.-China trade friction," Yosuke Takagi, a senior official of the LDP's ruling coalition partner the New Komeito, was quoted as saying after the meeting.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has not commented on any specific size of the supplementary budget. But Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said on Wednesday he has been told by Abe to take "sizable" steps to stimulate growth, according to the Nikkei. The government will compile a supplementary budget for the current fiscal year ending in March 2020, as well as next fiscal year's budget plan, in early December, the paper said.

Both budget drafts need approval by parliament to take effect. Supplementary budgets of more than 10 trillion yen have only been compiled four times in the past, including one after a devastating earthquake and tsunami hit Japan in 2011, according to the Nikkei.

 

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)