The state budget for fiscal 2001 to be drawn up by the government later this month is expected to be characterized by "guarded optimism," Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa said Wednesday.
The government should compose the regular budget for the next fiscal year "with due consideration attached to uncertainties" over the nation's economy, Miyazawa, the Cabinet's returning finance minister, said in an interview.
Political observers are interpreting Miyazawa's guarded optimism as a sign that he intends to push for a neutral budget instead of another typical pump-priming package, meaning that it will feature fiscal provisions to improve employment and private consumption, which remain stagnant.