Biz Brief: Japan Prime Minister Warns of Swelling Government Debt

Japan Prime Minister Naoto Kan warned Friday that the island nation could soon face a Greece-like debt scenario, pointing to swelling government debt amid a declining population, according to an Associated Press report.

The newly minted prime minister, who took office only Tuesday, says he would consider raising taxes, aims to grow the economy annually by 2% by fiscal 2020 and would unveil more details of his economic growth plan later this month. This game plan is designed to stem Japan's dilemma where its population is shrinking as it ages and younger families are producing less children - end result is fewer folks to pay taxes to support the nation's growing government debt.

And that's a tough situation, especially considering Japan, which ranks as the second largest economy in the world, holds the most pubic debt among industrialized nations, the report notes.