Japan backpedals on budget-balancing target despite fiscal worries

TOKYO -- Japan is pushing back its long-held target of achieving a primary budget surplus this fiscal year, a signal that the recent rise in long-term bond yields has not forced the government to focus more on reining in spending.

Annual economic and fiscal policy guidelines due out soon will call for reaching primary surpluses -- covering policy spending by using tax and other income without borrowing -- at the national and local levels in either the current fiscal 2025 or in fiscal 2026.