Note 3-1

1 Budget deficit here indicates the gap between savings and investment in the government sector. The FY 1999 general government financial balance looks better than in FY 1998. But we must note that the FY 1998 balance reflects the general account's takeover of long-term obligations from the defunct Japanese National Railways and from the Forestry Service (some ¥27 trillion amounting to 5% of GDP). Excluding the takeover, the general government and national government balances in FY 1999 were worse than in the previous year.