Japan: More Deficit Spending To Come

Political squabbling intensified in Japan as the parliament met Jan. 5 to consider, among other things, the country's second supplementary budget for 2008 consisting of 4.7 trillion yen (US$50.5 billion). Tokyo has proposed a total of 12 trillion yen (US$129 billion) worth of stimulus spending for 2009, amounting to 2 percent of gross domestic product and driving the budget deficit up to about 48 percent. Japan's rampant deficit spending of 2008 seems ready to continue in 2009.