The government has begun preparing a stopgap budget in case its fiscal 2026 budget bill is not enacted by March 31, Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said Tuesday.

This will be the first stopgap budget since 2015. It will cover necessary expenses for the 11 days from April 1, the start of fiscal 2026.

¡°We¡¯ll work to compile a provisional budget to prepare for unexpected events,¡± Katayama said at a news conference Tuesday. Still, she emphasized that passing the fiscal 2026 budget bill by the end of fiscal 2025 is ¡°necessary.¡±

While the stopgap budget is expected to finance minimum necessary measures, including those related to pensions and medical services, Katayama suggested that it could also cover ¡°new measures that are especially needed,¡± such as the planned implementation of free high-school tuition in April.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi had said Monday that the government would consider compiling the stopgap budget.

Takaichi reiterated her intention to continue aiming for the passage of the draft fiscal 2026 budget within this month. Still, she apparently reached a conclusion that it would be better to show a flexible stance to opposition parties since the Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, lack a majority in the Upper House.

The budget bill has cleared the Lower House, where the ruling parties have an overwhelming majority, and is now being debated at the Upper House.

Due to the Lower House¡¯s constitutional superiority, the budget bill will automatically be enacted on April 12, even without an Upper House vote.

Opposition parties, including the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, have requested sufficient deliberations on the regular budget at the Upper House and the compilation of a stopgap budget, and have threatened to boycott Upper House debates on the full budget and related bills unless the ruling side accepts their demands.