Abe vows to specify concrete path toward fiscal reform in June

Selasa, 23 April 2013 01:09

(TOKYO-Kyodo) Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged Monday to specify a concrete path toward fiscal rehabilitation in the medium- to long-term economic and fiscal policy blueprints to be released in June.

Abe's administration is considering putting a ceiling on annual fiscal spending and curbing the nation's ballooning social security costs amid the rapid aging of society, government officials said.

During a meeting of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy on Monday, Abe instructed his Cabinet members to draw up how to cut expenditures in various fields, saying, "Our most important task is to simultaneously achieve economic growth led by the private sector and fiscal consolidation."

The results of discussion by the government's key economic panel will also be incorporated into a medium-term fiscal reform plan, scheduled to be finalized this summer.

Abe's remarks come amid international calls on Japan to rehabilitate its fiscal health, the worst among major developed economies. The Group of 20 members urged Japan to "define a credible medium-term fiscal plan" in a communique issued Friday at their two-day meeting in Washington.

Japan aims to cut its primary balance deficit to 3.2 percent of the country's gross domestic product by fiscal 2015, or half the level of fiscal 2010, and turn the balance into a surplus by fiscal 2020. A deficit in the balance means the nation cannot finance government spending without issuing new bonds.