The government is set to raise defense spending by ?1 trillion ($7.34 billion) to around ?6.5 trillion in the next fiscal year as part of efforts to earmark ?43 trillion for the five-year defense build-up plan, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter said Friday.
The budget increase is aimed at procurement of ammunition and expenses related to long-range missiles, the sources said on condition of anonymity as the plan has not yet been finalized.
The fiscal 2023 budget spending on defense would compare with a record ?5.4 trillion earmarked for the current fiscal year.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has announced plans to lift defense spending to an amount equivalent of 2% of gross domestic product within five years, from 1% now, to cope with an increasingly assertive China and unpredictable North Korea.
As part of the plan for ?43 trillion in defense spending over the next five years, Kishida’s government would spend ?5 trillion on stand-off missiles and another ?5 trillion for ammunition purchases, the sources said. One of the sources said the defense budget “would increase by ?1 trillion every year over the next five years.”
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