IN BRIEF (Page 19)

Japan

Govt seeks record budget for 2019

Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said on Tuesday that an initial budget requests for fiscal 2019 would likely reach a record high around 102 trillion yen ($918 billion). An increase in planned welfare spending and a request from the defense ministry to increase its budget to a record were pushing up overall expected spending, he said. Japan's debt burden now is proportionally the highest in the world at more than twice annual GDP.