Japan pledged Huge Spending Cuts amounting to 83 Billion US Dollars

Japan on 8 August 2013 pledged huge spending cuts amounting to 83 billion US dollars over two years as it works to bring down its debt. The cuts amounting to an average reduction of more than 4.0 percent of current annual spending comes days after the International Monetary Fund warned again over Tokyo's borrowings. The moves were outlined in the government's mid-term fiscal plan which called for cuts of 83 billion US dollars between April 2014 and March 2016.

Japan's annual budget is about 93 trillion yen, with about 40 percent of that spending coming from borrowing which has created a debt pile that is more than twice as big as Japan's economy, the worst among industrialized nations. India has not faced a public debt crisis like the kind seen across the euro zone, largely because most of its low interest rate debt is held domestically rather than by international creditors.

However, the IMF and others have warned that Japan must follow through on key fiscal and structural reforms to the economy, another key plank of Abe's plan but a difficult sell to many of Japan's cosseted industries.