Japan Eyes Record 32 T. Yen for Debt-Servicing Costs

   Tokyo, Aug. 26 (Jiji Press)--Japan's Finance Ministry plans to seek a record 32,386.5 billion yen in debt-servicing costs in its budget request for fiscal 2026, which starts next April, informed sources said Tuesday.
   The previous record high was 28,217.9 billion yen allocated in the fiscal 2025 initial budget. The cost of servicing Japanese government bonds is projected to rise significantly due to higher long-term interest rates.
   The assumed interest rate used to calculate the debt-servicing costs is set to be raised to 2.6 pct for fiscal 2026 from 2 pct for the previous year, with the cost of interest payments growing by 2,520.5 billion yen.
   The government's debt-servicing costs are highly likely to exceed 30 trillion yen on an initial-budget basis for the first time.
   Long-term interest rates in the country have been on an upward trend as the Bank of Japan has been normalizing its monetary policy since 2024.

(2025/08/26-16:37)

To read a full story, please click here to find out how to subscribe.