Japan Extra Budget: Updated Dec. 22, 2025.

Japan Diet enacts 18 tril. yen extra budget for PM's expansionary stimulus

Article source:  https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20251216/p2g/00m/0na/035000c

Ideas:

Japan has tried many times, with other supplementary budgets to try and improve the Japanese economy with not much success. This is no guarantee that the new budget, other than increasing the government debt,will have any effect on the economy.

Japan has many economic structural problems besides the inflation situation which is constraining the Japanese economy. Until Japan addresses the structural challenges the economy is going to be stuck in first or at best second gear and not growing much at all.

like any bill and drafts of a bill it probably went through many revisions as a bill rarely gets passed as it is but due to political tensions there are always going to be some or many changes before its passed.

The Japanese government knows full well that is debt to GDP ratio is the highest in the world but it has to decide what is most important, reducing the government debt or finding ways to  help the economy, even if that means spending more and increasing the debt.

Many bills always include some parts that the leading party didn't need to want but they need help from other parties to pass the bill so they include parts that other parties want and need in the bill.

Again, despite the new Prime Ministers best attempts to find ways to improve the economy,  past Prime Ministers, with good intentions, just couldn't improve the Japanese economy with their new bills or new budgets.

The new Prime Ministers ideas are good and needed but again there is no guarantee that the new bill will do anything but increase the debt. Yes, there might be some improved business confidence and maybe some improved consumer confidence but can it be sustained in the long run to get the economy moving again.

Trying get a decrease in living costs for Japanese families might be out the control of the Japanese government other than giving handouts and subsidies which are at best short-term solutions to solving the challenges related to the Japanese economy.

Yes, Japan fiscal situation is not the best and is the worst among the Group of Seven economies, might be the worst among the G 20 economies and is probably the worst among OECD economies.

But the Japanese government has to decide what is the most important challenge at the present time, improving the lives of Japanese families or trying to reduce the current debt situation.

The selling of government bonds seems to be a common strategy of the Japanese government, and maybe globally many governments do it when they need more money to finance whatever they need.

Of course selling government bonds might work in the short-term but again it increases the overall debt of a government, but in this case maybe the Japanese government feels it has no choice but to increase the debt to get money for the relief steps of subsidies and cash handouts in the new budget bill for Japanese families.

Just what is a crisis management situation that a government needs 6.4 trillion yen again as is its going to increase the debt and will the 6.4 trillion yen actually do what it's intended to do.

Not to keep commenting on the same thing, but past Japanese governments too has significant supplementary budget bills to improve the Japanese economy and the lives of Japanese families but most helped in the short-term but in the long-term didn't do much to help.

Japan seems to be more concerned with China these days and feels it needs to increase its defense budget as a way to offset China's defense spending.

And at the same time appease the current US government has been pressuring the Japanese government to increase its defense budget.

As always opposition lawmakers rarely like a bill that is passed or intended to be passed unless it has something in it for them. And then there is the budget measures that are not the most important and maybe could wait until the new fiscal year in April to be implemented into a new bill.

But what is urgent or needed, it seems, its the need for relief measure to help Japanese families with cash handouts and subsidies related to electricity and gas which again might help in the short-term but in the long-term might not help much at all.

Have a nice day!