Japan cabinet approves record $939 billion budget spending plan for fiscal year 2020/21

Japan's government has approved a record budget spending worth $939 billion for the coming fiscal year, the Ministry of Finance said on Friday, as it tries to balance the need to boost growth and manage the industrial world's heaviest public debt burden.

The 102.7 trillion yen ($939 billion) general-account budget for the year beginning April 1 marks a 1.2% rise from the current year, boosted by record outlays for welfare and the military and other spending aimed at boosting the economy.

Part of the planned spending will help finance a $122 billion fiscal package put together this month by Abe's cabinet to shore up growth beyond the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after hits from the U.S.-China trade war and an Oct. 1 sales tax hike to 10%.

Abe's administration is counting on economic expansion to boost tax revenues to help finance debt, as limited scope for monetary stimulus prompts global policymakers to focus on fiscal spending.

"We'll continue efforts on reform of expenditure so as to juggle both economic revival and fiscal reform," Finance Minister Taro Aso told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

"We are striving to achieve a primary budget surplus," he said, shrugging off a view that the Bank of Japan's ultra-low rate policy is allowing the government to effectively bankroll its debt.