Kan Targets Balanced Budget in 10 Years to Curtail Japan’s Debt

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan pledged to balance the budget in 10 years and reduce bond sales, moving to bolster investor confidence he can contain the world’s largest public debt. Bonds rose.

Annual spending will be capped at 71 trillion yen ($781 billion) over the next three years and tax changes will be unveiled “soon,” the government said in its fiscal strategy released in Tokyo today. Kan last week said the government will consider an increase in the country’s 5 percent sales tax.