Japan's Relies on Large-scale Debt Issuance to Cope with Economic Downturn
Directly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, the deteriorating corporate performance has led to a reduction in corporate tax and income tax. The Japanese government predicts that the general accounting tax revenue in 2020 will be about 8 trillion yen lower than expected, to about 55 trillion yen, which is the biggest drop since 2009 after the Lehman Crisis in the United States. The actual tax revenue for 2019 announced by the Japanese government in July was 58.4 trillion yen. The drop in 2020 compared with the previous fiscal year was about 3 trillion yen, the biggest drop since 2009, when it was a year-on-year decrease of 5.6 trillion yen. Tax revenue in 2019 was also reduced by about 2 trillion yen compared to 2018, which is a significant reduction for two consecutive years. The Japanese government will determine the general framework of the budget and the issuance of national debt based on tax revenue estimated in advance. If tax revenues fall more than expected, it will be necessary to respond by increasing the issuance of national debt. In light of the current economic situation, Japan is likely to issue more than 100 trillion yen in new government bonds in 2020 for the first time due to the need for additional deficit issuance. Affected by COVID-19, the road of financial reconstruction has become even more difficult. On December 8, the Japanese government finalized additional economic countermeasures at the cabinet meeting, and envisaged the implementation of large-scale additional issuance. The central government has a budget of about 30.6 trillion yen (1.9 trillion yuan), and about 73.6 trillion yen (4.6 trillion yuan) is involved in projects to increase the effectiveness of private investment.