Prefectural governments posted a combined 19.4 billion yen in budget deficits in fiscal 1999, which ended last March 31, the Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry said Tuesday.

It is the second consecutive year in the red for the prefectures, although the combined total was considerably smaller than the 87.2 billion yen posted the previous year, the ministry said.

By prefecture, only four of the 47 prefectural governments ran deficits: Tokyo, Kanagawa, Aichi and Osaka.

The magnitude of those deficits, however, more than offset the surpluses enjoyed by the other 43 governments, the ministry said.

The budget figures were calculated by subtracting expenditures and carried-forward items from revenues.

The ratio of debt-servicing costs to total assets came to a record 16.9 percent.

Seven prefectures had achieved a ratio below the "warning" line of 15 percent, but 15 others had ratios under the "danger" line of 20 percent.

Combined revenues for the local governments came to 55.079 trillion yen compared with expenditures of 54.191 trillion yen. Both figures were down 0.8 percent from the previous year, marking their first decline in two years, due to lower tax revenues and spending on ordinary construction work.

Combined personnel expenditures totaled 15.896 trillion yen, down 38.9 billion yen from the previous year and the first yearly decline, reflecting stepped-up restructuring efforts.