MOF to Boost Customs Staff in FY 2015 ahead of Olympics

Tokyo, Aug. 27 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese Ministry of Finance plans to increase its staff by 231 in fiscal 2015, including 140 customs officers, informed sources told Jiji Press on Wednesday. The plan comes as the government aims to boost the annual number of foreign visitors to Japan to 20 million in 2020, when the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics will be held. The MOF plans to increase the number of tax officers by 52 in an effort to prevent fraud related to the consumption tax increase in April this year and another hike planned for October 2015. The personnel plan will be reflected in the ministry's budget request for fiscal 2015, which starts next April. The ministry is set to request a total of 28,138.5 billion yen under the general-account budget for the year, up 9.9 pct from the fiscal 2014 budget. Of the total, 25,823.8 billion yen will be sought to cover debt-servicing costs, up 11.0 pct. Meanwhile, the Justice Ministry plans to request 1.5 billion yen under the fiscal 2015 budget to increase the number of airport immigration counters to speed up entry and exit procedures, according to its draft budget request presented at a meeting of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Wednesday. The ministry's total general-account spending request will expand 4.6 pct to 763.2 billion yen. END