NOTES
Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori ended recent speculation over the course of his administration's fiscal policy by announcing September 21 that the government would draft yet another economic stimulus package. Consultations between the Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partners, the New Komeito and the New Conservative Party, yielded a consensus to assemble a list of central and local government spending initiatives worth a total of ¥10 trillion ($90.9 billion at ¥110=$1.00).
This money will be used to promote four major objectives: improving information technology, protecting the environment, building up the urban infrastructure and delivering services for an aging population. Hoping to come up with a plan that can be implemented fairly quickly, Mr. Mori instructed ministries and agencies to submit project proposals by October 6. His administration then will compile a ¥4 trillion ($36.4 billion) supplemental budget bill for submission to the 72-day special Diet session that began September 21.
With an eye on calming the many fiscal conservatives within the LDP and the government, the prime minister stressed that the stimulus package should rely as little as possible on new borrowing. He pledged to use the ¥1 trillion ($9.1 billion) surplus from FY 1999 to help defray the cost of what will be &emdash; discounting purely deregulatory packages and those aimed at resolving the banking industry's nonperforming-loan crisis &emdash; the eleventh fiscal stimulus plan since mid-1992 (see Table 1).
|
Date |
|
|
August 1992 |
|
|
April 1993 |
|
|
September 1993 |
|
|
February 1994 |
|
|
April 1995 |
|
|
September 1995 |
|
|
October 1997 |
|
|
December 1997 |
|
|
February 1998 |
|
|
April 1998 |
|
|
October 1998 |
|
|
November 1998 |
|
|
July 1999 |
|
|
December 1999 |
|
|
September 2000 |
|
|
Total |
|
|
*No exact value given for proposed
deregulatory and other measures. | |
|
Source: Ministry of Finance | |
The extra budget will mean that Japan has spent &emdash; or at least earmarked &emdash; more than ¥40.7 trillion ($370 billion) since FY 1990 to get its economy rolling (see Table 2). Even though real gross domestic product increased relatively strongly in the first half of 2000 (see JEI Report No. 35B, September 15, 2000), recent and current indicators raise some questions about the future direction of the world's second-largest economy.
|
Date |
|
|
FY 1990 |
|
|
aa December 1990 |
¥2,281.0 |
|
aa March 1991* |
1,133.4 |
|
aa aa Subtotal |
3,414.4 |
|
FY 1991 |
|
|
aa December 1991 |
266.0 |
|
FY 1992 |
|
|
aa December 1992 |
-728.3 |
|
FY 1993 |
|
|
aa June 1993 |
2,188.7 |
|
aa December 1993 |
708.7 |
|
aa February 1994 |
2,185.2 |
|
aa aa Subtotal |
5,082.6 |
|
FY 1994 |
|
|
aa February 1995 |
-673.5 |
|
aa March 1995 |
1,022.3 |
|
aa aa Subtotal |
348.8 |
|
FY 1995 |
|
|
aa May 1995 |
2,726.1 |
|
aa October 1995 |
5,325.2 |
|
aa February 1996 |
-1,004.4 |
|
aa aa Subtotal |
7,046.9 |
|
FY 1996 |
|
|
aa January 1997 |
2,666.3 |
|
FY 1997 |
|
|
aa March 1998 |
1,143.2 |
|
FY 1998 |
|
|
aa June 1998 |
4,645.5 |
|
aa (October 1998** |
43,000.0) |
|
aa December 1998 |
5,676.9 |
|
aa aa Subtotal |
10,322.4 |
|
FY 1999 |
|
|
aa July 1999 |
369.8 |
|
aa December 1999 |
6,789.0 |
|
aa aa Subtotal |
7,158.8 |
|
FY 2000 |
|
|
aa September 2000 |
4,000.0 |
|
Net Total |
40,721.1 |
|
*Primarily to fund Japan's contribution
to the allied Persian Gulf War effort. | |
|
Source: Ministry of Finance | |
