Japan reduces public debt, increases defense spending

On January 29, the government of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe decided to expand the country's defense budget in fiscal year 2013 to more than 4,700 billion yen (equivalent to 52 billion USD).

This is the first time Japan has increased defense spending in 11 years.

According to Japanese government officials, the country's defense budget for fiscal year 2013, which begins on April 1, will be 4,753 billion yen, an increase of 40 billion yen compared to the previous fiscal year.

Illustration photo.

This decision shows that Prime Minister Abe's government will pay special attention to strengthening the Japan Self-Defense Forces (SDF), in the context of disputes between Japan and a number of countries related to territorial sovereignty in the East China Sea.

Specifically, in the draft budget for fiscal year 2013, the Japanese Government will allocate 13.5 billion yen for fuel, maintenance and data transfer costs for the Early Warning and Control System for aircraft of the country's Air Defense Force; and costs for purchasing other military equipment such as amphibious vehicles and F-35 fighter jets.

According to the new decision, the SDF will be supplemented with 287 soldiers compared to the current 228,000 troops. This is the first decision to add human resources to the SDF in the past 8 years, considered to enhance intelligence gathering capabilities and defense capabilities against security threats.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who took office in late December, has pledged to absolutely protect Japan's territorial sovereignty and strengthen the warning and surveillance capabilities of the country's defense forces. The statement was made after Chinese ships repeatedly entered the waters of the Senkaku Islands, which are currently administered by Japan, but are also claimed by China and called Diaoyu.

The decision to increase the defense budget this time is part of the Tokyo government's policies to implement medium- and long-term defense programs to protect national sovereignty as well as promote military relations with its ally the United States.

Japan's defense spending has been cut continuously for the past 10 years after reaching a record 4,956 billion yen in 2002.

On the same day, according to the announcement of the Japanese Government, the country's public debt in fiscal year 2013 will be at 170,000 billion yen (equivalent to 1,900 billion USD), including both new government bonds and reinvestment bonds.

This is the first time Japan's public debt has decreased in the past five years, down 2.1% compared to last year, and is seen as a welcome sign that the Japanese government's efforts to improve the economy have been effective.

However, outstanding debt to central and local governments is expected to rise by about 4 percent to 977 trillion yen by the end of March 2014, more than double the value of Japan's GDP of 480 trillion yen.

Also as of March 2014, the balance of Japanese government bonds is expected to be at 749,000 billion yen, while per capita debt will be at 5.89 million yen/person.

The Japanese government has approved the initial draft national budget for fiscal year 2013 with a total estimate of 92,610 billion yen (nearly 1,200 billion USD). The above budget is lower than the initial budget of 92,900 billion yen in fiscal year 2012./.

According to (TTXVN) - DT