The government budget for fiscal 2001 is shaping up now that the Finance Ministry has received requests from all ministries and agencies. Their estimates, which include debt payments and revenue transfers to local governments, total about 84.8 trillion yen, down 0.2 percent from the initial budget for fiscal 2000. The budget will be completed in December following ministry screening.

The drop in the level of appropriations requests does not mean that government offices are moving toward austerity, nor does it signal any real easing of the debt burden. It reflects a temporary change in debt service: The annual bond servicing cost will shrink by more than 16 percent as a result of the termination of emergency payouts for banking reform. Debt payments will still make up about one-fifth of total expenditures, however.

Ministries and agencies are as keen as ever to boost spending. The requests for operating expenses, totaling 48.4 trillion yen, represent a gain of 2.1 percent from the initial 2000 budget. In the case of projects related to Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's "Japanese renaissance plan," the amount of money requested exceeds the Finance Ministry ceiling by 130 percent. The amount for living-related programs, which are no longer subject to such limits, is 3.2 times what it was a year ago.