Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said he will present to Cabinet next Tuesday a rough guideline on how to formulate the fiscal 2011 state budget, with an eye to gaining endorsement by month's end.
"I would like to push ahead with preparations so I can present an outline as early as Tuesday," Noda said at a news conference Friday at the Finance Ministry, noting he was ordered to work out the outline by Prime Minister Naoto Kan during an informal Cabinet meeting earlier in the day.
There is speculation that the process of compiling the guideline may be delayed amid turmoil within the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, as some members have called on the leadership to first analyze the major setback suffered in last Sunday's Upper House election.
But the finance minister said he wants to have the guideline accepted by the Cabinet by July 31 so ministries can make requests by the end of August as usual.