The Cabinet on Wednesday approved a 3 trillion yen supplementary budget for fiscal 2001, with 1 trillion yen earmarked for structural reform.
Given the current economic situation, however, the additional funds may not be the final appropriation for this fiscal year; some senior members of the ruling coalition have already started clamoring for more spending.
The extra budget, based on a framework set by the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy last month, allocates 26 billion yen to deal with mad cow disease and 49 billion yen for antiterrorist measures.