Japanese government passes provisional budget for fiscal year 2026

On the 27th local time, the Japanese government held a Cabinet meeting and officially approved the provisional budget plan for the 2026 fiscal year, submitting it to the National Diet shortly after. This budget applies to the 11-day period from April 1 to April 11, with total general account expenditures amounting to 8.5641 trillion yen. The government plans to push for the passage of this budget in the National Diet on March 30 to avoid any funding gaps. Reportedly, this is the first time in 11 years the government has drafted a provisional budget plan, last implemented during Shinzo Abe's second administration in 2015. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi had previously aimed to pass the official 2026 budget within the current fiscal year (April 2025 to March 2026), but opposition parties called for sufficient time for deliberation and opposed a rushed vote within the year, resulting in differences over budget review. The current provisional budget plan mainly includes social security expenses and local allocation tax grants, among other items. As a transitional arrangement, the provisional budget will automatically become invalid once the official budget is approved.