Japan's parliament adopts record $767B budget after delay by snap elections

Japan's parliament on Tuesday approved a record 122.31 trillion yen ($767 billion) annual budget following a rare delay by snap elections in February, local media reported.

This marks the first time in 11 years the budget was approved after the April 1 start of the fiscal year, Tokyo-based Kyodo News reported.

Following the enactment of the budget, Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama told reporters that it is "too early" to predict the impact of the Middle East situation or to craft a supplementary budget.

The general account budget, which reflects Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's expansionary fiscal stance and aggressive investment in strategic areas such as semiconductors and artificial intelligence, includes increases in welfare expenditure amid the aging population, and a record 9.04 trillion yen ($56.5 billion) for defense-related purposes.

Takaichi's announcement in January of a snap election, held on Feb. 8, had delayed the start of deliberations on the fiscal 2026 draft budget by around a month compared with previous years.