Japan is considering issuing additional deficit-covering bonds worth around 1.9 trillion yen ($17 billion) to offset an expected tax revenue shortfall in the current fiscal year to March, government sources told Reuters.
A rise in deficit-covering bonds would further strain Japan's public finances and mark a setback for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's efforts to curb the developed world's heaviest debt burden.
The government expects tax revenues to undershoot its initial forecast of 57.6 trillion yen by around 1.9 trillion yen, which would mark the first downward revision since fiscal year 2009 when the global financial crisis dented tax receipts.