Photo/Illutration Notes held by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga contain labels identifying Komeito head Natsuo Yamaguchi and 100,000 yen payments. (Takeshi Iwashita)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe instructed the Finance Ministry to rewrite the proposed supplementary budget to include 100,000-yen ($926.67) payments to all individuals to help them cope with the coronavirus outbreak, sources said April 16.

Officials of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party had been reluctant to drastically change the supplementary budget, which the Diet was to deliberate next week.

However, younger lawmakers of the ruling coalition proposed the cash handouts as a more effective measure to cushion the public from the economic fallout of the pandemic.

After discussions on the proposal between officials of the LDP and its coalition partner, Komeito, Abe’s instructed Finance Minister Taro Aso to rewrite the supplementary budget.

The extra budget was intended to implement emergency economic measures announced by Abe earlier this month to deal with the coronavirus outbreak.

A key component of that package was the distribution of 300,000 yen to households whose incomes have been slashed as businesses have closed operations.

But that proposal was criticized as insufficient by not only the opposition but also members of the ruling coalition.

For one thing, the process of determining eligibility for the payments is complicated, and some lawmakers said only a limited number of households would receive the funds.

Recent public opinion surveys have also shown declining approval for the Abe Cabinet as well as dissatisfaction with the emergency economic measures.

After the household payment proposal was announced, some LDP officials made clear that additional measures would be needed because of concerns those payments would not reach enough people.

Calls from the rank and file likely influenced those in higher positions.

Komeito lawmaker Mitsunari Okamoto described the proposal to pay all citizens as “the high road” of policy.

On April 14, Toshihiro Nikai, the powerful LDP secretary-general, proposed cash handouts but only to those under a certain income level.

The following day, Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi met directly with Abe and proposed that 100,000 yen be distributed to all citizens regardless of income.

“Wide and deep effects (from the coronavirus outbreak) are being felt throughout society and the economy,” Yamaguchi told reporters after the meeting. “I encouraged the prime minister to make the decision to send a message of solidarity with the public considering the situation that everyone faces.”

Yamaguchi later phoned Abe and suggested that the supplementary budget be adjusted so that funds earmarked for the 300,000-yen payments to households go toward the 100,000-yen handouts to all individuals.

Government officials have always been hesitant about providing cash handouts because of concerns the money would be saved rather than spent and because the funds could be distributed to even wealthy people.

The government had initially sought to pass the supplementary budget before the start of the Golden Week of national holidays in late April. But that schedule could be delayed if the budget has to be redrawn.

That, in turn, would lead to a delay in the actual distribution of the cash handouts.

After the latest developments, opposition lawmakers said the ruling coalition had finally come around to their point of view.
The Democratic Party for the People proposed 100,000-yen handouts in March.

Yuichiro Tamaki, the party chief, said the fact the ruling coalition was even talking about the handouts indicated that the household payment proposal was deficient. He called for a drastic redrawing of the supplementary budget to allow for the cash handouts.

(This article was compiled from reports by Naoki Kikuchi, Natsuki Okamura, Kazuki Kimura, Takahiro Okubo, Ryuichi Yamashita and Maho Yoshikawa.)

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