Despite growing fear of snowballing government debt and declining tax revenue, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Friday the government will be more flexible on its bond issuance target for fiscal 2010 and now sees the ¥44 trillion target as a "nonbinding goal."
"It is not that we are going to easily give up" on the cap target, Hatoyama said. The government must be flexible enough to "protect the people's lives."
"It is not like we are saying (bond issuance) shouldn't exceed (the cap goal) by even ¥1."