TOKYO, June 7 (Reuters) - Japan is committed to mobilise all policy options available while putting the economy before fiscal reform, according to a draft of the government's mid-year policy framework reviewed by Reuters on Wednesday, signalling its will to keep the fiscal spigot wide open before looming elections.
Kishida, who is seen as a fiscal hawk, also hopes to strike a delicate balance between fiscal stimulus and the unwinding of it, with the framework calling for normalisation from crisis-mode fiscal largesse.
"We have not abandoned the flag of fiscal reform," the framework said, in a tacit reference to Kishida's aim of bringing a primary budget surplus, excluding new bond sales and debt servicing costs, by the fiscal year ending in March 2026.
The target was originally set to be met in the early 2010s but has pushed back four times.
Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Christian SchmollingerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Persons:
Fumio, Kishida, Tetsushi Kajimoto, Christian Schmollinger
Organizations:
Reuters, Liberal Democratic Party, Thomson
Locations:
TOKYO, Japan, Ukraine