For the fifth straight year, the government will probably be forced to issue the deficit-covering bonds that have helped drive the nation into fiscal crisis, a senior Finance Ministry official indicated August 28.
According to an estimate by the ministry released the same day, requests for the fiscal 1998 general account budget compiled by individual government ministries and agencies will total roughly 80.55 trillion yen, up 4.1 percent from the budget of the current fiscal year.
The fiscal 1998 state budget will be the first step in the government's efforts at fiscal reconsolidation. The reform would involve reducing the combined fiscal deficit of the central and local governments to 3 percent of gross domestic product or less and stopping the issuance of deficit-covering bonds by fiscal 2003.