Japanese gov't yet to use 180 bln USD of stimulus packages

Tokyo (Japan), July 14: The Japanese government has yet to use around 20 trillion yen (180 billion U.S. dollars) out of about 73 trillion yen under its three fiscal 2020 additional budgets to fund stimulus packages in the combat against the COVID-19 pandemic, media's tally showed Tuesday.
The finding was observed from the data released by the Cabinet Office in May, and it reflected the slow response of the Japanese government regarding the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and the stalled projects caused by the further spread of the virus, local media said.
The leftover funds were disclosed because Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's Liberal Democratic Party is considering formulating another large-scale supplementary budget to fund new economic stimulus. Obviously, the party hopes to win public support ahead of the general election held in November.
According to a Kyodo News tally, the government allocated more than 3.6 trillion yen as the financial supports for food service establishments that follow the anti-COVID-19 measures to either completely shut down or reduce operating time in preventing the spread of COVID-19. However, as of the end of April, only around 970 billion yen was provided.
Delays in clerical work are deemed to be the reason that the amount yet to be used.
Of about 2.37 trillion yen earmarked as the budget of "Go To Travel" campaign, which was launched in July 2020 to stimulate the domestic tourism industry, 940 billion yen has been provided to tourists and service operators as the campaign suspended since late December amid the nationwide spread of the virus.
The Cabinet Office has reviewed the budget implementation status. The review covered projects for which over 10 billion yen in the state funds have been allocated, excluding financial support for small and midsize firms.
Part of the leftover funds will be used in fiscal 2021 starting in April or later. (1 U.S. dollar equals 110 yen)
Source: Xinhua