Japan may be able to restore its fiscal health in fiscal 2029 under the most optimistic growth scenario, two years later than previously estimated due to the impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic, the government's latest projections show.
Previously, the government had projected it could attain a surplus in the primary balance — tax revenues minus spending except to pay interest on past debt — in fiscal 2027, but now it forecasts that it might move into the black with a ¥300 billion ($2.88 billion) surplus in the year through March 2030.
The delay would be caused by a decline in tax revenues from earlier this year caused by the pandemic and growing expenditures to ease its impact, according to the semiannual long-term estimates.