Shinzo Abe’s cabinet has signed off on a record budget for 2015 that will boost economic growth in Japan’s economy but leaves tough choices on spending for the future.
日本首相安倍晋三(Shinzo Abe)内阁已签字批准了2015年的创纪录预算。该预算将提升日本经济增长速度，却会压缩日本将来在开支上的选择空间。
The overall budget will rise by 0.5 per cent to Y96.3tn ($814bn) as the ageing population drives up welfare costs, defence spending increases and interest costs rise on the growing public debt.
由于老龄化人口推升社会福利成本、防务开支攀升以及公共债务增长导致利率上升，日本总体预算将攀升0.5%，达到96.3万亿日元（合8140亿美元）。

High spending will help Abenomics towards its goals of higher inflation and growth but it highlights how fast-growing welfare costs will rapidly absorb the benefits of last year’s consumption tax rise.
高昂的开支将有助于安倍经济学(Abenomics)达成提高通胀率及提高增长速度的目标。不过，这也凸显出，日本快速增长的社会福利成本将迅速吞噬去年提升消费税的收益。
The higher consumption tax and strong corporate profits because of the weak yen are set to drive revenues to their highest level in 24 years at Y54.5tn — up 9 per cent on the previous year.
更高的消费税率以及日元疲软导致的企业盈利增加，将把日本的国民收入大幅提升至24年来的最高水平，达到54.5万亿日元，比去年高9%。
Mr Abe is therefore set to meet his goal of halving Japan’s primary deficit — excluding the cost of interest payments — but with most of the improvement due to a cyclical upturn, it still leaves a vast structural gap between revenue and spending.
这样，安倍将得以实现将日本基本赤字（指不包括支付国债利息成本的赤字）减半的目标。不过，由于它在很大程度上要归功于经济的周期性上升，日本在国民收入和开支之间，依然会存在巨大的结构性差距。
Finance ministry insiders say more stringent cuts will be needed in coming years to meet a pledge to balance the budget, excluding debt-service costs, by 2020.
日本的社会福利开支将会攀升3.3%，达到31.5万亿日元，几乎是总预算的三倍，也对日本政府其他方面的活动产生了决定性影响。此外，日本防务开支将增长2%，此举反映了安倍政府优先推进的政策方向。