Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama expressed confidence Friday in achieving fiscal discipline and keeping the government's election pledges at the same time, saying he intends to continue cutting down wasteful spending and avoid a consumption tax hike.
"I gave my word that we will not raise the consumption tax while I am responsible for the government. That promise should not be easily taken back," Hatoyama told a news conference to mark the enactment of the fiscal 2010 budget.
The ¥92.3 trillion budget, which cleared the Diet on Wednesday, will crank out an unprecedented ¥44.3 trillion in new Japanese government bonds. Yet, allocations for a number of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan's key campaign pledges remain unclear, including doubling the child allowance in fiscal 2011 from ¥13,000 this year to ¥26,000.
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