The government should not issue any new bonds for the upcoming extra budget, Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said Tuesday, a comment that could trigger further criticism from opposition lawmakers calling for stimulus measures financed by new debt.
The ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Naoto Kan's Democratic Party of Japan will seek to submit the draft fiscal 2010 supplementary budget to the Diet in late October for deliberations at the extraordinary session which starts Friday, DPJ lawmakers said.
They're aiming to get the budget passed by the Lower House in early November.
"In my position, basically, I think it is not desirable to newly issue government bonds" to fund the extra budget," Noda told reporters.
Some opposition parties have called for the issuance of a type of bond designed to fund public work projects while criticizing the government's ongoing stimulus measures as insufficient.
Kan has said he will listen to their opinions seriously, given their dominance in the Upper House.