Parliament on Tuesday enacted the government’s ¥13.9 trillion ($90 billion) supplementary budget for fiscal 2024 to finance the first comprehensive economic policy package under Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s administration.
The House of Councillors, the upper chamber, approved the budget at a plenary meeting by a majority vote with support mainly from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, Komeito, as well as Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party) and the Democratic Party for the People on the opposition side. The House of Representatives, the lower chamber, passed it Thursday.
Nippon Ishin voted for the budget after the LDP agreed to hold talks on its centerpiece policy of making education free. The DPP backed it after its secretary-general reached an agreement with his counterparts at the LDP and Komeito to aim to raise the minimum taxable annual income from the current ¥1.03 million to ¥1.78 million.