Japan wants to draw up a large supplementary budget after the elections
Secretary General: Increasing the vaccination rate will also be an issue

Japan will set up a substantial additional budget immediately after the upcoming general election to mitigate the economic impact of the pandemic and boost long-term growth in key areas, a ruling party heavyweight said on Sunday.
"The first thing to do is vaccinations. This is the most important measure against the coronavirus," said Akira Amari, the newly appointed general secretary of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), on the political discussion program on the public broadcaster NHK.
Japan should increase its vaccination quota from the current 60% to 70% to 80% in order to allay fears in the population, Amari said.
"We have responded with various measures by tapping into the budget's emergency reserves. Now that the reserves are running out, we will be putting together a sizeable supplementary budget immediately after the elections.
Given dire public finances, Japan's new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida may have no choice but to sell more government bonds to fund a pandemic package that he says will be worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
Amari, a former economy minister who is considered a key ally of Japan's longest-serving Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, said the supplementary budget will focus on the environment, digitization and infrastructure.
Keiichi Ishii, his counterpart at the small LDP coalition partner Komeito, demanded cash payments of 100,000 yen (900 US dollars) for all people aged 18 and under. H. about 20 million people.
CABINET LINE
Kishida, a former foreign minister who won the race to lead the LDP on Wednesday, is expected to be elected prime minister by parliament on Monday, replacing Yoshihide Suga because of the party's majority in the lower house. He is expected to name his cabinet later in the day.
He will lead the LDP in the general election, which must be held by November 28th.
Finance Minister Taro Aso's brother-in-law Shunichi Suzuki is due to replace Aso, while Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi will keep his post, according to Japanese media.
Hirokazu Matsuno, education minister in Abe's cabinet, is slated to become head of cabinet, a key position and top government spokesman, the reports said.
Kishida will keep Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi - Abe's younger brother - and appoint Education Minister and Abe ally Koichi Hagiuda as Minister of Trade and Industry in charge of energy policy, NHK reported.
Takayuki Kobayashi, a former Treasury bureaucrat turned lawmaker, is likely to take on the new post of minister of economic security policy with self-confident China in mind, NHK said.
Former Deputy Trade Minister Daishiro Yamagiwa is likely to become Minister of Economy, implement measures to combat the corona virus and lead the Prime Minister's Advisory Group on Economic and Financial Policy.
Seiko Noda, who ran against Kishida, is likely to get a ministerial post along with a few other female MPs, NHK said, which is in line with Kishida's goal of 30% or more women in his cabinet.
Tetsuo Saito, number two in the Komeito, is likely to be appointed transport minister, replacing Komeito MP Kazuyoshi Akaba, the media reported.
(1 dollar = 111.0500 yen)





