Japan Mulls De-linking Pensions from Prices to Allow Payout Cuts
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Japan’s Finance Minister Taro Aso said the government is considering changes to the pension system that would enable it to cut payments as the nation grapples with the world’s heaviest debt burden.
“It’s true the welfare ministry and related agencies are considering this,” Aso said in Tokyo today when asked about a report in the Nikkei newspaper that the government was weighing the changes. The ministry plans to revise the rules to allow nominal reductions of 0.9 percent a year, regardless of trends in prices and wages, the Nikkei reported, without attribution.