Japanese House of Councilors passed the government's 79.69 trillion-yen (about 681.11 billion U.S. dollars) budget for fiscal 2006 Monday.

The budget for the year starting on April 1 was passed by the House of Representatives on March 2. This is the first time in eight years that Japan's initial general-account budget is below 80 trillion yen (about 683.76 billion dollars).

The budget is 3 percent smaller than the initial fiscal 2005 budget due to spending cuts in a range of policy areas and a projected growth in tax revenues for fiscal 2006.

The issuance of new government bonds in fiscal 2006 will drop below 30 trillion yen (about 256.41 billion dollars), the lowest in five years,

After the approval of the budget, Japanese lawmakers will start crafting a blueprint to mend the nation's revenue and expenditure structures as a way of restoring its debt-ridden finances.

The reform blueprint is to be released in June. According to Kyodo News, it may touch on specific levels of spending cuts for key fields, such as social security and may call for tax hikes.

Source: Xinhua