Japan's Ministry of Finance presented on Tuesday a 79.69 trillion yen (about 684.47 billion US dollars) national budget draft for the next fiscal year.

This is the first time in eight years that the budget is below 80 trillion yen (about 687.17 billion dollars).

The issuance of new government bonds in fiscal 2006 will decrease to 29.97 trillion yen (about 257.46 billion dollars), the lowest in five years, said the ministry. The 12.8 percent fall from last year is considered the steepest on record.

Tax grants to local governments will fall by 9.5 percent to 14. 56 trillion yen (about 125.05 billion dollars) while policy- related general expenditures is to drop by 1.9 percent to 46.37 trillion yen (about 398.27 billion dollars) in next fiscal year starting from April 2006.

Japan's defense spending will be cut by 0.9 percent to 4.81 trillion yen (about 41.35 billion dollars) in fiscal 2006.

Its foreign aid, the Official Development Assistance (ODA), is to decline by 3.4 percent to 759.7 billion yen (about 6.53 billion dollars).

Tax revenues are expected to total 45.88 trillion yen (about 394.07 billion dollars) in fiscal 2006, up 4.3 percent from the initial estimate for the fiscal 2005 budget.

Source: Xinhua