Japan's Cabinet decided on 6 October to spend ¥3.23bn from the general-account reserve on controlling the red-necked longhorn beetle, with the Environment Ministry taking ¥2.70bn and the agriculture ministry ¥527.6mn.
The reserve is a pot the government sets aside in the budget for unforeseen needs, and the Cabinet can release it without a fresh vote in the Diet. The Ministry of Finance's decision sheet lists the draw under two headings, each worded as "expenses necessary for control of the longhorn beetle": one for the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and one for the Ministry of the Environment.
The split and the balance
The decision sheet shows the Environment Ministry's share at ¥2.70bn and the agriculture ministry's at ¥527.6mn, for a total of ¥3.23bn. It also gives the state of the fund after the draw.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Agriculture ministry: beetle control | ¥527.6mn |
| Environment Ministry: beetle control | ¥2.70bn |
| Total drawn this time | ¥3.23bn |
| Reserve budget | ¥1.51tn |
| Cumulative use before this draw | ¥801.4bn |
| Balance after this draw | ¥708.9bn |
The reserve was set at ¥1.51tn for the year. Earlier draws had already taken ¥801.4bn, and this one leaves ¥708.9bn. The decision sheet states these figures itself.
What the sheet does not say
The decision sheet gives only the two ministry totals. It does not say which activities the money will pay for or where, and it gives no reason for the timing. Each ministry has published its own request form for the draw, and the Ministry of Finance links to those pages.
This is a smaller draw than the one Tokyo Brief reported on 29 September, and it adds a pest-control line to the year's reserve spending. The next reserve decisions will show how much of the remaining ¥708.9bn is committed.