Japan passes $118 billion extra budget to fund its biggest post-COVID stimulus

Japan's upper house passed an 18.3 trillion yen ($118 billion) extra budget on Tuesday, giving Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi the green light to roll out the country's largest stimulus package since the COVID-19 pandemic despitefiscal concerns.

The fiscal 2025 supplementary budget, already approved by the lower house of parliament last week, well exceeds last year's 13.9 trillion yen disbursement and is mostly financed through new debt issuance, underscoring Takaichi's aggressive stance on support for spending.

Benchmark 10-year Japanese government bond yields JP10YTN=JBTChave hit an 18-year high this month, as the Bank of Japan is widely expected to raise interest rates on Friday to 0.75%, a three-decade high.

-Kantaro Komiya/Reuters