Japan passes $176 billion stimulus budget to tackle deflation
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TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's parliament on Tuesday passed a US$142 billion (S$176 billion) extra budget that forms a key part of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's efforts to tackle the deflation that has dogged the economy for years.
The 13.1 trillion yen (US$142 billion) package squeaked by the opposition-controlled upper house of parliament less than two weeks after the lower house approved the spending.
The measure is part of a wider stimulus package announced by Mr Abe's cabinet in January, after his Liberal Democratic Party swept to victory in December elections on a pledge to revive the world's third-largest economy.
The new money will be earmarked for various economy-boosting measures, including job growth, upgrading Japan's ageing infrastructure, and rebuilding disaster-struck areas hit by the 2011 quake-tsunami.
