【Fiscal 2027 / Reiwa 9】MLIT Requests Record ¥8.7694 Trillion Budget, with Major Expansions in Housing GX, Eliminating Transport Gaps and Disaster Preparedness

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism announced the outline of its initial budget request for FY2027, with total general-account expenditure amounting to ¥8.7694 trillion. The amount is higher than in the previous year, reflecting measures to address disasters and surging material costs. In particular, ¥1.5508 trillion has been included under the “Strong and Prosperous Japan” investment framework, subject to scrutiny during the budget compilation process.

The three pillars of the initial budget request are crisis-management investment; support for housing GX, logistics and DX to achieve sustainable economic growth; and enhanced regional development and the housing safety net. The framework is designed to use an investment allocation separate from regular expenditure. No cap has been set on the investment allocation, allowing requests for the amount required, although the final amount will be determined in the subsequent budget compilation process.

The breakdown includes ¥7.6761 trillion in public works expenditure, ¥1.0933 trillion in non-public works, ¥35.9 billion in the Special Account for Reconstruction from the Great East Japan Earthquake, and ¥2.0134 trillion under the Fiscal Investment and Loan Program. Budgets for digital transformation in infrastructure, decarbonisation measures, watershed flood control, seismic reinforcement and disaster preparedness have been expanded.

Going forward, the process will proceed from submission and assessment of the initial budget request to Cabinet approval of the government budget bill, followed by deliberation and passage in the ordinary session of the Diet. The final budget amount and details of the programmes are expected to be determined after assessment by the Ministry of Finance and deliberation in the Diet.