Japan Upper House Passes FY 2025 Budget

   Tokyo, March 31 (Jiji Press)--Japan's House of Councillors passed a modified budget bill for fiscal 2025 on Monday, sending it back to the House of Representatives for approval of the modification by the end of the day.
   As Monday is the last day of fiscal 2024, the budget bill is expected to be enacted in time for the start of the next fiscal year.
   It will be the first time under the country's current Constitution for a government budget to be enacted after being modified in the Upper House.
   The fiscal 2025 budget bill calls for general-account spending of a record 115,197.8 billion yen, including about 10.5 billion yen added after Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba decided after the bill's passage in the Lower House to suspend a plan to raise the upper limit on out-of-pocket personal medical expenses. Meanwhile, reserve funds were reduced in the Upper House.

(2025/03/31-14:24)