<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=452><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Published September 22, 2009
</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Japan to lift ceiling on budget spending, says Fujii
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(TOKYO) Japan's Ministry of Finance will scrap a spending ceiling on the 2010-11 national budget and its details will probably be decided outside of the newly created National Strategy Bureau (NSB), Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii said yesterday.
Mr Fujii's comments suggest that the NSB, which was created under new Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama to set the broad outline of the annual budget, will play a smaller role than some had initially expected. This could potentially lead to confusion within the Hatoyama cabinet over who is ultimately responsible for fiscal policy in the Democratic Party.
'The role of the MOF and the NSB are only slightly different and it is natural for the cabinet to work on national strategy,' Mr Fujii told reporters after meeting Democratic lawmakers appointed to the finance ministry.
'We'll probably handle next year's budget the same way we handled the extra budget, which is by discussing it with the relevant cabinet ministers.'
Mr Hatoyama ordered the cabinet on Friday to root out wasteful projects in a 14 trillion yen (S$217 billion) extra budget crafted by his predecessor. Mr Hatoyama issued that order right after a meeting with only some members of his cabinet, including Mr Fujii and Naoto Kan, the head of the NSB.
The Democrats created the NSB to improve what they viewed as an inefficient legislative process under the outgoing government, in which bureaucrats had too much control over spending allocation.
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</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Mr Fujii, when asked by reporters, refused to be drawn on whether his ministry would take the lead in the budget process, and analysts have said the relationship between the two bodies is unclear.
Before being swept to power on Aug 30, the Democrats had pledged to scrap a record 52.7 trillion yen ceiling on budget spending set by the outgoing government for the next fiscal year starting in April 2010, and start drafting an annual budget from scratch. The new government hopes to stick to the traditional year-end deadline for the budget.
'We are operating on the assumption that we will complete next year's budget by the end of this year,' Mr Fujii said. 'We want to decide on next year's budget as soon as possible.'
Mr Hatoyama's Democratic Party, which ended more than five decades of almost unbroken rule by the Liberal Democratic Party, faces pressure to keep his promises to focus spending on consumers, cut waste and curb bureaucrats' control over policy. -- Reuters
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</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Japan to lift ceiling on budget spending, says Fujii
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</TD><TD>Feedback</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>(TOKYO) Japan's Ministry of Finance will scrap a spending ceiling on the 2010-11 national budget and its details will probably be decided outside of the newly created National Strategy Bureau (NSB), Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii said yesterday.
Mr Fujii's comments suggest that the NSB, which was created under new Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama to set the broad outline of the annual budget, will play a smaller role than some had initially expected. This could potentially lead to confusion within the Hatoyama cabinet over who is ultimately responsible for fiscal policy in the Democratic Party.
'The role of the MOF and the NSB are only slightly different and it is natural for the cabinet to work on national strategy,' Mr Fujii told reporters after meeting Democratic lawmakers appointed to the finance ministry.
'We'll probably handle next year's budget the same way we handled the extra budget, which is by discussing it with the relevant cabinet ministers.'
Mr Hatoyama ordered the cabinet on Friday to root out wasteful projects in a 14 trillion yen (S$217 billion) extra budget crafted by his predecessor. Mr Hatoyama issued that order right after a meeting with only some members of his cabinet, including Mr Fujii and Naoto Kan, the head of the NSB.
The Democrats created the NSB to improve what they viewed as an inefficient legislative process under the outgoing government, in which bureaucrats had too much control over spending allocation.
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Before being swept to power on Aug 30, the Democrats had pledged to scrap a record 52.7 trillion yen ceiling on budget spending set by the outgoing government for the next fiscal year starting in April 2010, and start drafting an annual budget from scratch. The new government hopes to stick to the traditional year-end deadline for the budget.
'We are operating on the assumption that we will complete next year's budget by the end of this year,' Mr Fujii said. 'We want to decide on next year's budget as soon as possible.'
Mr Hatoyama's Democratic Party, which ended more than five decades of almost unbroken rule by the Liberal Democratic Party, faces pressure to keep his promises to focus spending on consumers, cut waste and curb bureaucrats' control over policy. -- Reuters
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