JAPAN'S UNUSED DEFENCE BUDGET HITS 130 BLN YEN IN FY2023

TOKYO, July 10 (Bernama-Xinhua) -- Japan left approximately 130 billion yen (US$807 million) unused from the over 6.8 trillion yen allocated for defence in fiscal 2023, reported Xinhua quoting local media.

The amount of unspent money for the year ending March was the second largest since fiscal 2007 after the defence ministry was upgraded from an agency, raising questions over the current record level of military buildup, Kyodo News reported Tuesday.

The Japanese government approved a record 6.82 trillion yen defence budget for fiscal 2023, marking the first year of a five-year programme that allocates a total of 43 trillion yen for defence spending through fiscal 2027.

The defence ministry failed to complete some budget execution procedures in time on the back of larger-than-expected increases in related contracts and projects, the report said.

With the government planning to resort to tax hikes to fund the rise in defence outlays, the failure to use up the budget could come under fire and hamper progress in discussions to revise the tax system toward the end of the year, the report said.

The amount of unspent funds in the defence budget has remained above 110 billion yen for three consecutive years through fiscal 2020, it added.

Japan has set a goal outlined in its 2022 National Security Strategy of bringing defence spending to 2 per cent of the gross domestic product in fiscal 2027, after maintaining an informal cap of around 1 per cent, or about 5 trillion yen, under its war-renouncing Constitution. 

--BERNAMA-XINHUA