Japan PM Yoshihide Suga directs cabinet to prepare third supplementary budget amid COVID

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Tuesday instructed his cabinet to prepare for a third budget this year in order to support another stimulus package for the country. The package is aimed at reviving the economic growth of the country, which has been battered by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to The Japan Times, the upcoming budget is going to be in the range of 10 to 15 trillion Japanese Yen.

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Expected to create new jobs

The stimulus package is expected to create new employment opportunities for people as the Labour Ministry earlier in the day informed that 70,000 jobs have been lost during the course of the pandemic. Suga reportedly told his ministers to create a budget that will kickstart the growth in the country in line with private demand. The budget is also expected to improve the country's disaster preparedness and provide support to companies to strengthen their supply chains. 

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Apart from the COVID-19 stimulus package, the budget is also expected to provide a new path of growth for the country keeping in line with the international greenhouse emission standards, and will also include digital transformation. Japan has already seen two supplementary budgets of about 57 trillion yen this year after the pandemic hit the country. Both of the budgets were announced by Suga's predecessor Shinzo Abe. 

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Japan has recorded nearly 1,10,000 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, most of which came since the end of July. So far, 1,834 people have lost their lives in the country. Tens of thousands of people have been affected financially and are struggling to bring their lives back to normal.  

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(Image Credit: AP)