日本拟发行十万亿日元紧急国债

日本政府计划发行超过十万亿日元的紧急国债，为地震海啸之后的救灾和重建工作筹集资金。据悉，日本政府届时将要求日本央行认购全部紧急国债。日本法律规定，只有在遇到“特殊情形”、并且经过议会同意的情况下，日本央行才可以直接认购政府发行的债券。日本政府认为上周五发生的大地震及海啸已达到“特殊情形”标准，央行可以考虑认购。

Japan's government is planning to issue more than 10 trillion yen ($124 billion) of emergency bonds to fund costs for disaster relief in the wake of last week's devastating earthquake, the Sankei newspaper reported on Friday.

The government will ask the Bank of Japan to underwrite the entire issue of emergency bonds, the paper said, citing "several government sources."

The law prohibits the BOJ to directly underwrite government bonds unless under "special circumstances" that warrant such action, and if parliament approves the move.

The government believes that the worst earthquake in Japan's recorded history qualifies as such "special circumstances," and so will ask the BOJ to consider doing so, the paper said.

The government is scrambling to line up money to fund disaster relief and reconstruction after the massive earthquake and tsunami, which triggered one of the world's most severe nuclear power plant accidents.

Even if the ruling Democratic Party-led government scraps some of its generous spending pledges, such as child support benefits, it can only come up with 3.3 trillion yen, the paper said.

The government also considered issuing new government bonds but that risks triggering a sharp rise in long-term interest rates given Japan's already stretched finances.

It is therefore planning to issue emergency bonds for disaster relief and ask the BOJ to underwrite them, the paper said.