The government wants to hike the official development assistance budget to 0.7 percent of gross national income but ignore swelling social security costs, according to the final draft of its 2005 economic and fiscal policy guideline.
The guideline was submitted Thursday to the Liberal Democratic Party.
The ODA hike, a reversal of government policy, is an apparent effort to garner more international support for Japan's campaign for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council. The 0.7 percent figure is based on gross national income, which is almost equivalent in size to gross national product.
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