The Cabinet on Wednesday approved a 82.11 trillion yen budget for fiscal 2004 that experts say gives Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's budgetary reform initiative short shrift.

As outlays will far exceed tax revenues, requiring a record amount of new bond issues, the government has a long way to go before it gets its snowballing debt under control, experts said.

"Koizumi has said he aims to improve the country's fiscal health, but it seems almost impossible now," said Kenji Yumoto, chief senior economist at Japan Research Institute Ltd.