Japan to spend extra 892 million USD in reserves on disaster relief, election

Tokyo, Oct 11 (IANS) The Japanese government on Friday decided to spend around 132.5 billion yen (about $892 million) from reserve funds on disaster relief for the quake-hit Noto peninsula and costs for the upcoming general election.

The decision marked the first time for the administration of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who took office earlier this month, to allocate reserve funds, which the government can use at its discretion without parliamentary approval, Xinhua news agency reported.

About 50.9 billion yen was earmarked for reconstruction efforts such as rebuilding roads and public facilities and other projects in the Noto peninsula in Ishikawa prefecture, which was struck by a strong earthquake on New Year's Day and heavy rains last month.

It will be the seventh allocation from the reserve funds for the central peninsula since the January disaster, when Ishiba's predecessor, Fumio Kishida, was in office, bringing the total to about 715 billion yen.

Another 81.6 billion yen will be used to cover the costs for the general election for the House of Representatives and voting on whether to retain Supreme Court justices, both on October 27, the government said.

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