• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

• 

 
 
On May 27, 2020, the Prime Minister attended a Policy Roundtable of the Government and Ruling Parties at the Prime Minister’s Office.

At the meeting, the participants held a discussion on the second supplementary budget for FY2020.

Following the discussion, the Prime Minister said,

“The day before yesterday, we finally lifted the state of emergency nationwide. I would like to express my sincere gratitude once again to all citizens for the great efforts and enduring perseverance they have shown.

Going forward, we must create a new normal for everyday life in the age of the coronavirus.

It will take quite some time to completely restore our everyday lives while holding down the number of new infections.

Along this steep path ahead, we must protect businesses and employment by any means possible. At the same time, making the best use of the opportunity presented by the epidemiological situation settling down, we must make all possible preparations against the possibility of a subsequent wave of infections.  

With this resolve, today, we will decide on the second supplementary budget.

Firstly, we will boldly reduce the burden of fixed costs on business operators. We will fundamentally enhance Employment Adjustment Subsidies, raising the maximum payment to 15,000 yen per day as a special measure, and establish a new scheme that allows employees themselves to directly receive the money.

Furthermore, we will establish a new subsidy of up to 6 million yen for reducing the significant burden imposed by rents.

We will further enhance liquidity support to a significant extent. In addition to greatly expanding interest-free unsecured loans and other supports, we will also provide capital funds such as subordinated loans and investments through the Development Bank of Japan and other institutions, regardless of how large or small a corporation is.

We will inject an overwhelming amount of funds totaling 140 trillion yen through an ‘All Japan’ approach, and comprehensively support the financing of Japanese companies.

Enhancing the medical treatment and screening structures is another important pillar. We will increase the budget by more than 2 trillion yen and cover, with government outlays, the total expenditure of the emergency comprehensive support subsidy, thereby firmly securing a sufficient number of dedicated hospital beds.

Along with such efforts, we will provide benefits of up to 200,000 yen to healthcare professionals, hospital staff, and care workers. We will also promote the development of vaccines and therapeutic medication even more strongly.

Moreover, we will increase the Special Allocation for Regional Revitalization by 2 trillion yen to enable the provision of tailored support in response to the actual circumstances of each region. Moreover, taking into consideration the forthcoming prolonged battle, we will add another 10 trillion yen to the contingency funds to enable flexible responses to any changes in the situation.

Alongside the recent supplementary budget and relevant measures, fiscal expenditure will exceed 120 trillion yen, while the scale of the program will exceed 230 trillion yen.

Through these measures at a scale exceeding 40% of GDP, the largest in the world, we will thoroughly defend the Japanese economy from this once-in-a-century crisis.

The Bank of Japan has also approved a 75-trillion-yen Special Program to Support Financing and, together with the government, has announced an extraordinary joint statement that we will work together and do whatever it takes.

Above all, we must ensure that the support reaches those who are facing difficult situations as soon as possible.

I ask the ruling parties for your cooperation towards the early enactment of the second supplementary budget.”