Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki: Next year's budget should be compared on the basis of the combined scale of "supplementary + initial" budgets to reduce dependence.

(1) Japanese Economy and Finance Minister Shunichi Komeito stated on Tuesday that the budget scale for fiscal year 2027 (next year) should be compared with the combined scale of the supplementary budget for fiscal year 2025 and the initial budget for fiscal year 2026. This aligns with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s policy of reducing dependence on supplementary budgets. (2) Komeito emphasized that next year’s budget should appropriately reflect rising prices and wages, while also enhancing economic growth potential and supporting the expansion of nominal economic scale. (3) According to reports from Nikkei and other media outlets, the total amount of initial budget requests from various departments for the fiscal year starting next April is expected to be approximately 143 trillion yen (896 billion USD). This fiscal year’s initial requests are about 122 trillion yen, and last year’s supplementary budget was around 18.3 trillion yen, putting the total at roughly 140.6 trillion yen. (4) Komeito stated that he currently cannot comment on the final total of the budget. The Japanese government will determine the final scale around the end of the year after the Ministry of Finance evaluates departmental requests.