The general-account budget for fiscal 2011 on a request basis reached a record-high ¥96.75 trillion due to swelling debt-servicing and social security costs, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday.
The amount eclipsed the previous high of ¥95.04 trillion sought for fiscal 2010 through next March 31, leaving the government with the daunting task of trimming the bloated requests in the course of drafting the budget under severe fiscal constraints.
The announcement came after the ministry finished receiving budget requests for fiscal 2011 from central government offices Tuesday.
The initial fiscal 2010 budget stood at a record ¥92.3 trillion.
Under budget request guidelines set this year, the government plans to cap general-account spending, excluding debt-servicing costs, at around ¥71 trillion and the amount of new debt issues at ¥44 trillion — both at the same level as in the current fiscal year.