The government plans to limit fiscal 2007 general expenditures to about 46.8 trillion yen, down from 47.5 trillion yen in the fiscal 2006 budget request guidelines and marking the lowest level in nine years, Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki said Wednesday.
The 46.8 trillion yen cap, however, is still up from the 46.4 trillion yen in general expenditures that went into the initial fiscal 2006 budget, suggesting the government may be planning to trim more during the budget compilation process.
The Finance Ministry is speeding up work to finalize the budget request guidelines -- its ceiling on general expenditures -- so Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Cabinet can approve them Friday. General expenditures is a broad category of policy-related discretionary spending that excludes compulsory costs, including debt servicing and tax grants to local authorities.