Welfare Ministry Puts Off Decision on Child Benefit Budget Hike

Tokyo, Aug. 26 (Jiji Press)--Japan's welfare ministry is set to put
off a decision on how much increase it would seek in funds for the country's
new child allowance system under the state budget for fiscal 2011 from next
April.
In its draft budget request submitted to the ruling Democratic
Party of Japan's welfare panel on Thursday, the Health, Labor and Welfare
Ministry said it will request a total of 28,795.4 billion yen in
general-account funds for the coming year, up 4.5 pct from fiscal 2010.
Of the total, the ministry will seek 1,728 billion yen for the
child allowance scheme, unchanged from the amount it secured for the current
year.
Due to fiscal constraints facing the government, Health, Labor and
Welfare Minister Akira Nagatsuma has given up on the idea of doubling the
monthly amount of benefits to 26,000 yen per child in fiscal 2011 from
13,000 yen in the current year.
But he still wants to secure some increase in the benefit amount
from the current level. Under the circumstances, the ministry decided to
postpone a conclusion on a possible increase in its fund request for the
allowance system until the budget compilation work in late 2010.
The child allowance system was launched in fiscal 2010 based on a
policy promise the DPJ made in its campaign manifesto for last year's House
of Representatives election.
In the draft request, the ministry proposes 15 projects to be
covered by a special budget quota designed to reinvigorate the Japanese
economy.
Among them is a 15-billion-yen project to grant subsidies to
municipalities providing vaccination against cervical cancer to female
students at junior high and high schools.
Other planned special quota projects include one to set up regional
centers to dispatch doctors to hospitals and other medical institutions
suffering from shortages of doctors and another to provide financial
incentives to companies that employ new graduates who have not been able to
find jobs.
END