The new vice finance minister indicated Friday that the government will continue trimming spending and curbing the issuance of state bonds to reduce the balance of government debt, which has swelled to 483 trillion yen.
Koichi Hosokawa, who assumed the top bureaucratic post at the Finance Ministry the same day, did not rule out the possibility of raising the consumption tax from the current 5 percent to improve the nation's finances.
"The situation surrounding Japan's fiscal condition is the worst, if you look at it internationally," Hosokawa said, noting that the debt represents more than 90 percent of Japan's gross domestic product.