Japan's Foreign Ministry will increase its foreign aid budget by 15.3 percent in 2005, the Dyodo News reported.

According to the Ministry's plan, the total budget for foreign aid is 576.6 billion yen for the 2005 fiscal year which begins from April, 1 next year, including 57.6 billion yen for emergency aid to Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine; the total budget for 2005 is 807.3 billion yen, an increase of 11.9 percent year-on-year.

The Ministry has submitted Thursday morning the plan to the Liberal Democratic Party (the party in power) for approval. If approved, it will be passed to the Ministry of Finance. Affected by continuous economic recession and public criticism on improper use of aid fund, Japan's fund for foreign aid had been declining since the 2000 fiscal year; but last year the Foreign Ministry abruptly increased the sum by 14.9 percent, reaching 593 billion yen.

On top of foreign aid, the Foreign Ministry's budget also includes 1.56 billion yen for other purposes, which will be mainly used on signing agreements with other countries on free trade and economic partnership.

Japanese ministries will submit their budget plans to the Ministry of Finance before next Tuesday, and the latter will determine the state budget of 2005 and make it known in December.

By People's Daily Online