The Bank of Japan announced Friday that it will temporarily purchase government bonds to compensate for an expected funds shortage in the government's "zaito" fiscal investment and loan program.
About 106 trillion yen in postal savings funds, which are used to finance the government's zaito fiscal investment and loan program, is scheduled to mature in the two years beginning April 1.
Of the total, the government estimates that some 49 trillion yen will be withdrawn and shifted over to other financial instruments. If that happens, the government will have a serious zaito shortage that will force it to scale-down some of the nation's long-term investment projects.