Japan Finance Minister vows to stick to FY2020-21 budget balancing goal

TOKYO

Japan must adhere to the government’s goal to achieve a balanced budget by the fiscal year ending in March 2021, Finance Minister Taro Aso said, in a resolve to push for fiscal consolidation to fix the country’s tattered finances.

Aso made the pledge at a meeting of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s top economic advisory council, which deliberated on Tuesday over the government’s annual key economic and fiscal policy guidelines due around the middle of the year. The guidelines will provide the basis for compilation of next fiscal year’s annual state budget from April 2018.