The government approved a bill Friday that gives the timeline for administrative reforms planned for the next several years, positioned as the capstone to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's reform agenda.
The bill, which covers changes ranging from reorganizing government-backed financial institutions to selling off state-owned assets such as civil-servant housing, is expected to be the focus of the Diet for the rest of the regular session, which ends in June.
The legislation was written under Koizumi's "small government" policy, aiming to downsize the debt-ridden government as well as boost administrative efficiency to adjust to the shrinking population.
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