Japan’s Govt Seeks Diet Approval of FY26 Provisional Budget, with General Account Spending at ¥8.6 Tril., on Monday

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:07 JST, March 26, 2026

The government on Thursday morning told a House of Representatives committee that it will obtain Cabinet approval of a provisional budget bill for fiscal 2026 on Friday and submit it to the Diet on the same day.

Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Masanao Ozaki explained the plan at a meeting of the Rules and Administration Committee for the lower house.

The ruling parties — the Liberal Democratic Party and the Japan Innovation Party — plan to have the bill deliberated in both the lower house and the House of Councillors as early as Monday, with the aim of passing the budget.

The total general account expenditure of the budget is expected to be ¥8.6 trillion.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has maintained the aim of passing the fiscal 2026 budget bill by the end of March. But as it became difficult given the ruling coalition’s minority in the upper house, it is believed the government decided to submit a provisional budget bill as a “stopgap budget” to cover necessary expenses from April 1 to 11.

The fiscal 2026 budget bill, which passed the lower house, will be automatically enacted if the upper house does not vote on it by April 11 under Constitutional provisions.

Of the total ¥8.6 trillion, ¥2.8 trillion will be allocated for social security-related expenses including pensions and welfare, ¥5.1 trillion for mainly tax allocation grants to local governments by the central government, and ¥0.7 trillion for other items such as personnel costs.