TOKYO Japan's Lower House passed a $44.5 billion supplementary budget on Tuesday, to finance what the government has said will be the last stimulus package needed for full economic recovery.
"The supplementary budget totalling 4.78 trillion yen ($44.5 billion) passed through the house of representatives on a show of hands," a parliamentary official said.
According to an AFP report, the bill was immediately sent to the Upper House, the official said. The budget bill was expected to be enacted today.
The budget is designed to support and implement an 11 trillion yen economic stimulus package outlined in October, according to a Finance Ministry budget draft.
The latest package, which adds to the 100 trillion yen allocated to stimulus spending over the past decade, will include real new spending of 3.9 trillion yen.
The rest will come from already announced initiatives.
According to the draft, the government earmarked a total of 2.5 trillion yen for various infrastructure projects, particularly in the information technology industry.
On the revenue side, the government will raise 1.99 trillion yen in government bonds while calling for a 1.03 trillion yen cut in annual government expenditure on personnel and other running costs.
With the latest spending, government bond issuance in the year to next March will rise to 34.60 trillion yen, boosting the outstanding debt to 642 trillion yen, or the equivalent of 128.7 percent of Japan's gross domestic product in the year to March 2001.