TOKYO -(Dow Jones)- Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii said Tuesday the government will keep the volume of government bond issuance for the next fiscal year smaller than that for the current fiscal year ending March 2010.
"It is the firmly shared goal of finance ministry leaders that we keep the new issuance of bonds (for the next fiscal year) below the Y44 trillion issued for the current year by the previous (Taro) Aso government," Fujii told a press conference.
Due to fears of deteriorating fiscal health under the current government of Yukio Hatoyama, long-term interest rates have recently been showing signs of picking up. Fujii's comments are apparently aimed at allaying such fears by emphasizing the current government's stance of maintaining fiscal discipline.
Fujii also said he won't attend the finance ministers' meeting of the Group of 20 countries late next week in Scotland. He said the parliamentary schedule won't allow him to attend, and he will send deputy minister Yoshihiko Noda as his representative.
-By Takeshi Takeuchi, Dow Jones Newswires; 813-6895-7550; Takeshi.Takeuchi@ dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
10-26-092235ET
Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
No comments:
Post a Comment