Japan issued less debt than projected last fiscal year, as the government earned more and spent less in favorable economic conditions.
Officials say the government issued about 434 billion dollars' worth of deficit-covering bonds in FY2013 that ended in March. That's about 20 billion dollars less than initially estimated, according to Japan's (NHK WORLD) website.
One big reason was higher tax revenues, which topped estimates by about 16 billion dollars. Companies paid more tax on higher earnings. Income from capital gains tax also rose as investors sold stocks in improved market conditions.
On the spending side, the government managed to save more than 16 billion dollars. This was partly due to low interest rates that kept down debt-servicing costs.
As a result, the government racked up a surplus last year of around 14 billion dollars. Officials will spend more than half of that to redeem outstanding bonds.