Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa on Tuesday unveiled the outline of the ministry's 82.65 trillion yen draft general-account budget proposal for fiscal 2001.
The draft budget, which the ministry plans to propose to Cabinet for adoption today, is 2.7 percent less than the initial fiscal 2000 figure of 84.99 trillion yen but exceeds the 80 trillion yen mark for the third straight year.
It is the first time in six years that the draft budget has been lower than the previous year's initial budget.