About 110 billion yen ($708 million) of the defense budget for fiscal 2024 was unused, the government said, raising questions about Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s plan to accelerate increases in spending on security.
The unspent portion neared the 130-billion-yen excess for fiscal 2023, the second-largest total on record.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said at a news conference on Nov. 18 that contract prices for defense equipment procurement fell below estimates due to competitive bidding. He also said spending was reduced because the Self-Defense Forces recruited fewer members than expected.
“We need to ensure efficiency and streamline operations to make the most effective use of the budget,” he said.
The defense budget ballooned to 7.9496 trillion yen for fiscal 2024.
Takaichi plans further increases through revisions of three security-related documents. The next revisions are scheduled for 2027, but Takaichi intends to revise them earlier.
A senior official of the Defense Ministry said the ministry maintains that “budget shortfalls must never occur” and considers a certain level of surplus unavoidable.
But opposition parties have voiced concerns about the large sums of unspent money.
“We must ensure that the (unused) amount does not increase any further,” Jiro Hata of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan said.
