Bond issuance more than 50 trillion yen - Japan FM

Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii said the government may issue bonds exceeding tax revenue for the first time in more than six decades, according to an interview published on Tuesday.

He suggested that Japan may issue fresh bonds worth more than 50 trillion yen (552 billion dollars) for this fiscal year to March to cover for decreasing tax revenue.

Fujii told the Nikkei business daily that the government expected tax revenue to fall "more than six trillion yen" from the original estimate of 46.1 trillion yen.

The Japanese government had earlier estimated that this fiscal year's new bond issuance would be worth around 44 trillion yen, already a record volume for the debt-ridden nation as it launched a series of stimulus measures to counter the global economic crisis.

But the Nikkei said Fujii, who still did not clearly announce fresh bond issuance, planned to sell additional bonds to cover for the falling tax revenue.

If the government issued more bonds than the expected tax income, it would be the first time it had done so since 1946, when Japan scrambled to rebuild from the ashes of World War II, the Nikkei said.

The minister planned to include the additional bond issuances in a new supplementary budget to be submitted to parliament early next year, the newspaper said. AFP