Given the nation's snowballing deficit and sluggish growth, Deputy Prime Minister and now also Finance Minister Naoto Kan announced Thursday plans to review government spending to reduce waste and come up with policies to expand the economy.
To procure funding for the Democratic Party of Japan's campaign promises, including child-rearing allowance and free expressways, Kan said ministries and agencies will review their special accounts and public corporations by around the end of August, when they expect to make budgetary requests for fiscal 2011.
But he did not set a specific target to curb government debt, a focus of keen attention from overseas investors concerned about the fiscal sustainability of the government.