Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said she has called on the Finance Ministry to compile an extra budget in response to rising commodity prices driven by the ongoing Middle East conflict, backtracking after repeatedly insisting such a measure wasn’t necessary.
“I asked Finance Minister (Satsuki) Katayama last week to consider ways of funding including compiling a supplementary budget,” Takaichi said at a ruling coalition meeting held on Monday.
For weeks, Takaichi and Katayama have denied the need for additional funds or fresh bond issuance. But the development has been seen as almost inevitable given rising oil prices and the depletion of funds to pay for relief measures.
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