TOKYO: Japan’s finance ministry will seek a record 26.05 trillion yen ($213.5 billion) for interest payment and debt servicing of Japanese government bonds, in budgetary appropriations for the next fiscal year from April 2016, government sources said. The increase of 11.1 percent from the current fiscal year’s budget reflects ballooning national debt.
The debt service costs consist of 15.21 trillion yen for debt repayment, up 14.3 percent from the previous year, and 10.8 trillion yen for interest payment and discount charge, an annual increase of 6.9 percent, the sources said on Friday. The sources declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the subject.
Separately, the Japanese government’s total budget requests for next fiscal year are expected to rise to a record of about 102 trillion yen, the Asahi newspaper reported on Saturday, citing a rise in social welfare spending and national debt.
Last month, the government said it would miss its target of returning to a primary budget surplus in fiscal 2020, suggesting further steps will be needed to boost revenue and cut spending.
The target was considered an important goal for Japan as it seeks to reduce a ratio of debt to gross domestic product that is the worst in the industrialised world, with public debt standing at around twice the size of its economy.
