The government plans to pay up to ¥19,000 per night to national public servants when they stay in Tokyo on business trips from next April, it was learned Wednesday.

Currently, the fixed amount of ¥13,100 per night is provided to division-chief-level officials on business trips to Tokyo's 23 wards, the city of Osaka and other areas.

The current system will be replaced in April by the new one, which will cover the actual cost of a hotel, with a cap set at ¥19,000 for hotels in Tokyo and at ¥13,000 for those in Osaka Prefecture.

Under the new system, national public servants will be divided into three categories based on rank, and the price ceiling will be set for each category and for each of 12 groups of prefectures where they might stay.

The maximum amounts will be based on the actual rates of the hotels used by private company employees on business trips.

For overseas business trips, meanwhile, division-chief-level officials will receive up to ¥59,000 per night when staying in Boston, up to ¥57,000 in New York and ¥54,000 in Washington.

The new system is expected to be adopted later this year after a public-comment period.

It could affect similar systems for local government employees.