The Japanese finance ministry will hold crisis talks with bond dealers in the world’s largest government debt market today/FRIDAY, amid growing fears about the impact of a political stand-off on the nation’s finances.
Japanese politicians are at loggerheads over a bill that would allow the government to borrow the Y38.3tn ($479bn) needed to finance the budget deficit this year.
As a condition for supporting the bill, opposition parties are demanding that Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda fulfil a pledge to call a general election. Mr Noda has so far refused to set a date out of fears that his ruling Democratic Party of Japan, which is adrift in the polls, will be voted out of office.