Japan to tie green and digital investments to government cost cuts

Japan's debt-strapped government unveiled a budgeting mechanism to try to minimize the financial burden of new green and other growth initiatives by tying funding to cost-cutting results at its ministries. Under the plan, ministries get ¥3 to spend on projects in targeted areas including the environment and digitalization for every yen they're able to cut from other spending, according to documents released by the Cabinet Office Wednesday. The plan calls for cuts of 10% to discretionary spending, which totaled ¥14.9 trillion ($135 billion) last year across the country's ministries. Cuts to non-discretionary spending are also part of the plan. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is pushing for investment into green and digital technologies even as the government struggles under the developed world's heaviest debt burden.