Digest

At the cabinet Council on September 9th, Mr. Mitsuzuka, Minister of Finance, reported the estimated budget requirements for fiscal year 1998.

A reduction of 7% was estimated for the public works budget. However, expenses related to the national debt were estimated at 18.0557 trillion yen out of a total budget of 80.5535 trillion yen. Thus, 22% of the entire budget is funded by government bonds.

In other words, public expenditures must be limited because of the growing annual expenditures appropriated to the repayment of the principal and interest due to the national debt.

In particular, financial planning is straight-jacketed by the current government policy because the public debt repayment limits all other expenditures. In a debt-free environment, the financial world would be able to adapt or maneuver whenever and however necessary to achieve stability.

The national debt certainly exerts a large influence on the current generation.
Moreover, as politicians of the Liberal-Democratic Party have often complained for many years in order to promote administrative and financial reform, "administrative and financial reforms are necessary so as not to leave the bill for our children to pay in the future."