Japan Watching Impact of Rate Rises by the West on Its Economy

Japan's Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki wearing a protective face mask delivers his policy speech during the start of an extraordinary session of the lower house of the parliament, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Tokyo, Japan, on Dec. 6, 2021. Issei Kato/Reuters

TOKYO—Japan will watch how rising interest rates in Western nations could affect its economy, the finance minister said on Tuesday, as higher bond yields would boost borrowing costs for the industrial world’s heaviest public debt burden.

Shunichi Suzuki made the remark as the parliament’s powerful lower house is set to approve the fiscal 2022/23 budget with a record $940 billion in spending on Tuesday, setting the stage for the budget’s full passage through the legislature in March.