TOKYO, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) — The Japanese authorities on Thursday stepped away from Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s pledge to double the price range for child-rearing from the present 2 % of the nation’s gross home product (GDP) to sort out the falling birthrate.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno advised the press that by speaking about rising spending on the childcare price range as a proportion of GDP, the federal government was not setting any particular “criteria” sooner or later to realize the objective.
The revision got here a day after Kishida mentioned throughout a parliamentary session that Japan’s public expenditures for child-rearing help reached 2 % of GDP within the fiscal 12 months ending March 2021, and that the federal government is aiming to “double the amount.”
The remarks fueled hypothesis and raised fears among the many public that the Japanese authorities would increase taxes to cowl the price range rise.
The prime minister cited the determine for instance of how the federal government was seeking to improve the price range, Matsuno mentioned.