Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii said on Friday he has become less worried about Japanese government bonds and budget requests for next fiscal year as bond prices are rising.

At first, I was worried because bond prices were falling, Fujii said during a TV programme recording.

But now we can see bond prices are bouncing back.

Fujii also said the government can definitely cut a few trillion yen from a record 95 trillion yen ($1,054 billion) in budget requests for the fiscal year starting in April 2010. ($1=90.12 Yen)

Japan