Japan to raise defense spending by $6.1bn this year

Supplementary bill to include largest-ever injection for security

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Maritime Self-Defense Force sailors board a ship. Japan will add a record $6.1 billion to the fiscal 2021 budget to bolster defense capabilities. (Photo courtesy of the JMSDF)

Nikkei staff writers

November 19, 2021 07:53 JST

TOKYO -- The Japanese government plans to seek more than 700 billion yen ($6.1 billion) in additional funding for defense in the fiscal 2021 supplementary budget, Nikkei has learned.

This will mark the biggest such allocation for defense spending in history in a supplementary budget and will bring the total defense budget for the current fiscal year to around $53 billion -- in the same league as Germany and France but still only around a quarter of China's.