Tokyo, 10 July, /AJMEDIA/
The Japanese government left unused about 130 billion yen ($807 million) from the over 6.8 trillion yen that was earmarked as the defense budget for fiscal 2023, sources familiar with the matter said Tuesday, a move that could raise questions over the current record-level of defense buildup.
The amount of the backlogged money for the year ending March 31 was the second largest since fiscal 2007, after the Defense Ministry was upgraded from an agency. The largest amount was around 180 billion yen logged in fiscal 2011, in the aftermath of the massive earthquake and tsunami disaster that devastated northeastern Japan.
The Japanese government approved a record-high 6.82 trillion yen defense budget for fiscal 2023, the initial year of a five-year plan to boost defense outlays by pouring 43 trillion yen in total amid increasing security challenges from China and Russia, as well as North Korea’s nuclear and missile development.
But the sources said the ministry failed to complete some budget execution procedures in time on the back of larger-than-expected increases in related contracts and projects.
With the government planning to resort to tax hikes to fund the rise in defense spending, the failure to use up the budget could come under fire and hamper progress in discussions to revise the tax system toward the end of the year.
The government is expected to report the unexecuted money in its general account settlement figures for fiscal 2023 to be released possibly in late July, while considering carrying over the funds to the current fiscal year’s budget, the sources said.
The amount of unused funds in the defense budget has remained above 110 billion yen for three consecutive years through fiscal 2020.
In fiscal 2022, the amount totaled 107.3 billion yen, due to less-than-expected aircraft repair fees and other reasons.
Japan has set a target of raising its annual defense outlays gradually to reach about 2 percent of gross domestic product in fiscal 2027, after long keeping it at around 1 percent, or about 5 trillion yen, under its war-renouncing Constitution.
