Prime Minister Taro Aso's Cabinet on Wednesday endorsed a record-high ¥52.7 trillion spending cap for the fiscal 2010 budget to cover rising social security costs, but its implementation could depend on the outcome of a Lower House poll expected soon.
The budget ceiling marks a departure from the fiscal belt-tightening introduced by former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and continued by his successor, Shinzo Abe, and Abe's, Yasuo Fukuda.
Some economists were quick to call the budgetary cap yet another "spending spree" by Aso to woo voters ahead of an election in which the Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito ruling bloc is widely seen as fighting a losing battle against the Democratic Party of Japan.