Japan Congress moves to pass record $937-B budget

TOKYO: Japan was on Thursday expected to pass its biggest-ever budget, a $937-billion spending package aimed at propping up growth as consumers brace for the country’s first sales tax hike in over 15 years.

Lawmakers in the upper house of parliament, controlled by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, would vote on the package later Thursday. The 95.88 trillion yen ($937.4-billion) budget for the fiscal year starting in April was expected to easily pass, after the lower house approved it last month.