The first budget compiled by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's inistration is 4.0 percent larger than the current fiscal year's initial budget due partly to growing social security costs.

With the passage of the budget, the government will shift its focus to the consumption tax issue. It will estimate how much it can trim expenditures in the run-up to an expected full-fledged debate in the fall on whether to raise the consumption tax rate from 5.0 percent to cope with growing social security costs.

The Japan Times Weekly: March 31, 2007
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