Opposition parties grilled Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto on April 13 over ambiguities concerning the extent to which he plans to revise the fiscal austerity law.
Hashimoto explained to a special session of the House of Representatives Budget Committee that he hopes to keep revisions to the Fiscal Structural Reform Law to a minimum, such as providing the government with more flexibility to issue deficit-covering bonds.
The opposition argued that a minimum change in the reform law would only make it harder for him to meet other targets set in the law. They demanded that Hashimoto step down for retracting his austerity policies.