ID :
115396
Wed, 04/07/2010 - 08:57
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/115396
The shortlink copeid
Japan gov't to cut debt based on cautious growth projections+
TOKYO, April 6 Kyodo - The government said Tuesday it will try to trim Japan's huge public debt based on cautious growth rojections, with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama feeling the need to incorporate numerical targets in the forthcoming fiscal consolidation plans.
A set of proposals to restore the nation's fiscal discipline, partly designed
by outside experts, said the government should work toward reducing the ratio
of Japan's outstanding public debt to gross domestic product in a ''stable
manner'' and achieving a surplus in the primary balance -- revenue matching
spending, excluding debt payments.
However, the proposals -- almost carbon copies of scenarios mapped out by the
former government last year -- did not specify by when the government must meet
the goals.
The members of the fiscal reconstruction panel, including both lawmakers and
outside experts, said they did not set target years at this stage in the
proposals as they will be subject to debate in the months ahead, requiring
political decisions.
To achieve the long-range goals, the government will formulate a medium-term
fiscal plan by the end of June, ahead of the upper house election in July.
The plan will draw an outline for projected expenditures in the three years to
fiscal 2013, at a time when the generous spending plans of the Democratic Party
of Japan-led government, formed in September, are raising serious concern about
the sustainability of the fiscal situation.
Many DPJ lawmakers hope the three-year framework will help lay the groundwork
for introducing multi-year budgets in Japan.
They believe it will be difficult for the government to avoid wasteful spending
as long as Japan decides on most of its public spending on a single year basis.
Hatoyama told reporters Tuesday evening that the government needs to have
numerical targets in the plan.
''I believe it is necessary to show to the public the direction of Japan's
public finances over the next two to three years, moving toward fiscal
reconstruction, which to some extent needs to have numerical targets,''
Hatoyama said at the premier's office.
Motohisa Furukawa, senior vice minister for economic and fiscal policy, told
reporters that ''the biggest cause of the failure'' was that growth estimates
used in the past were too optimistic.
Furukawa said the DPJ-led government will therefore adopt ''prudent
projections'' for the economy when it considers ways to put the nation's public
finances on a sound footing.
The panel said Japan's annual potential growth rate of around 1 percent,
forecasted by many market analysts, will serve as a useful reference.
It also said economic projections to be used for new fiscal consolidation plans
should be different from those in the upcoming growth strategy.
The panel said that projections for the strategy, which will also be ready by
the end of June, should be understood as targets.
In 2010, Japan's outstanding public debt is projected to expand to nearly 200
percent of GDP -- by far the worst among industrialized countries.
==Kyodo
A set of proposals to restore the nation's fiscal discipline, partly designed
by outside experts, said the government should work toward reducing the ratio
of Japan's outstanding public debt to gross domestic product in a ''stable
manner'' and achieving a surplus in the primary balance -- revenue matching
spending, excluding debt payments.
However, the proposals -- almost carbon copies of scenarios mapped out by the
former government last year -- did not specify by when the government must meet
the goals.
The members of the fiscal reconstruction panel, including both lawmakers and
outside experts, said they did not set target years at this stage in the
proposals as they will be subject to debate in the months ahead, requiring
political decisions.
To achieve the long-range goals, the government will formulate a medium-term
fiscal plan by the end of June, ahead of the upper house election in July.
The plan will draw an outline for projected expenditures in the three years to
fiscal 2013, at a time when the generous spending plans of the Democratic Party
of Japan-led government, formed in September, are raising serious concern about
the sustainability of the fiscal situation.
Many DPJ lawmakers hope the three-year framework will help lay the groundwork
for introducing multi-year budgets in Japan.
They believe it will be difficult for the government to avoid wasteful spending
as long as Japan decides on most of its public spending on a single year basis.
Hatoyama told reporters Tuesday evening that the government needs to have
numerical targets in the plan.
''I believe it is necessary to show to the public the direction of Japan's
public finances over the next two to three years, moving toward fiscal
reconstruction, which to some extent needs to have numerical targets,''
Hatoyama said at the premier's office.
Motohisa Furukawa, senior vice minister for economic and fiscal policy, told
reporters that ''the biggest cause of the failure'' was that growth estimates
used in the past were too optimistic.
Furukawa said the DPJ-led government will therefore adopt ''prudent
projections'' for the economy when it considers ways to put the nation's public
finances on a sound footing.
The panel said Japan's annual potential growth rate of around 1 percent,
forecasted by many market analysts, will serve as a useful reference.
It also said economic projections to be used for new fiscal consolidation plans
should be different from those in the upcoming growth strategy.
The panel said that projections for the strategy, which will also be ready by
the end of June, should be understood as targets.
In 2010, Japan's outstanding public debt is projected to expand to nearly 200
percent of GDP -- by far the worst among industrialized countries.
==Kyodo
