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Japan's upper house of parliament
on Monday passed a 12.1 trillion yen (155 billion U.S. dollars)
third extra budget to finance post-quake reconstruction initiatives,
with funds also allocated to deal with the impact of a persistently
strong yen on the nation's economy.
The passages in the upper house is an outcome of compromises
of the ruling and opposition parties, including agreement
to raise some taxes provisionally and to secure financial
sources for the budget. The more powerful lower house, controlled
by ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), already passed
the supplementary budget on Nov. 10.
The third extra budget is larger than the previous two, the
first worth some 4 trillion yen and the second of about 2
trillion yen, and is the second largest ever following one
that was created in 2009 to spur the economy after the global
financial crisis.
Besides financing rebuilding infrastructure and resolving
the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant related problems,
the extra budget also includes 2 trillion yen to reduce the
negative impact of a consistently strong yen on Japan's key
export sector. (1 U.S. dollar is equivalent to 76.8 yen)
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