Japan's Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday approved a record-high 97.45 trillion yen ($831 billion) budget for fiscal 2017, as swelling social security costs moved Japan further away from its goal of reining in overall spending and restoring its tattered fiscal health.

    The budget for the year starting in April also features increased defense spending for the fifth straight year since Abe took office in 2012 and expenditures to rejuvenate the economy by investing in growth areas, according to (Kyodo) news agency.

    Excluding debt-servicing costs, a record-high 73.93 trillion yen is earmarked for policy spending in the general account, with spending on social security comprising the largest portion of it in an aging Japan.