Japan Budget For Next Year At Record $995 Billion

Japan’s government ministries made budget requests totaling a record 99.3 trillion yen ($994.9 billion) for the fiscal year from next April, the finance ministry said on Wednesday, which will test the government’s ability to cut spending.

Budget requests swelled because the finance ministry requested a record amount for debt-servicing costs. Bulging social welfare spending due to an ageing society also pushed up budget requests.

The amount requested matched what sources told Reuters last week ahead of a submissions deadline on Friday. The finance ministry in recent years has typically trimmed the requested total by several trillion yen when it prepares its draft budget in December.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is struggling to balance the need for economic stimulus and the need to rein in the country’s public debt, which is double the size of its GDP – the heaviest such burden among the industrialized nations.

“We will need to thoroughly examine these requests and prioritize our spending,” said Vice Finance Minister Shunichi Yamaguchi.

“If we go against our fiscal discipline framework, this could hurt confidence in Japanese government bonds.”

The government is committed to lowering its primary budget deficit by 4 trillion yen next fiscal year, and this will help insure that the government trims the initial budget requests, Yamaguchi also said.

via Reuters

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