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Japan drafts 760 billion dlr budget
Tokyo, Dec 24: Japan today said it had drafted a 760 billion dollar budget for the next fiscal year, with rising social security and debt-servicing costs pushing up planned bond issues to a record high.
Tokyo, Dec 24: Japan today said it had drafted a
760 billion dollar budget for the next fiscal year, with
rising social security and debt-servicing costs pushing up
planned bond issues to a record high.
The national budget for the year to march 2005 will
total 82.11 trillion Yen, up 0.4 per cent from an initial
budget for the current fiscal year.
It calls for government borrowing to rise 0.4 percent to 36.59 trillion Yen, or 44.6 percent of spending, topping the previous record hit this year.
Parliament will discuss the budget when it reconvenes in January for a 150-day ordinary session. The overall figure for the budget rarely changes after parliamentary debate.
Debt-servicing costs are budgeted at 17.57 trillion Yen, up 4.6 percent and representing one-fifth of overall spending.
The defense outlay will be cut by 1.0 percent, the largest percentage drop ever, to 4.90 trillion Yen.
Funding for foreign aid or official development assistance (ODA) is earmarked to be slashed by 4.8 percent to 816.9 billion Yen.
Public works spending, a key target of reform under the Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, will be pruned by 3.5 percent to 7.82 trillion Yen.
Yet overall spending will still rise, primarily because of a 4.2 percent increase to 19.8 trillion Yen in spending on social security programmes for Japan's fast growing population of elderly people.
Bureau Report
It calls for government borrowing to rise 0.4 percent to 36.59 trillion Yen, or 44.6 percent of spending, topping the previous record hit this year.
Parliament will discuss the budget when it reconvenes in January for a 150-day ordinary session. The overall figure for the budget rarely changes after parliamentary debate.
Debt-servicing costs are budgeted at 17.57 trillion Yen, up 4.6 percent and representing one-fifth of overall spending.
The defense outlay will be cut by 1.0 percent, the largest percentage drop ever, to 4.90 trillion Yen.
Funding for foreign aid or official development assistance (ODA) is earmarked to be slashed by 4.8 percent to 816.9 billion Yen.
Public works spending, a key target of reform under the Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, will be pruned by 3.5 percent to 7.82 trillion Yen.
Yet overall spending will still rise, primarily because of a 4.2 percent increase to 19.8 trillion Yen in spending on social security programmes for Japan's fast growing population of elderly people.
Bureau Report