pushed further into uncharted territory

日本の財政状況に関するOECDの報告書が発表されました。日本が待ったなしの税制改革が断行できるかどうかはもはや国際社会が注視しているといっても過言ではありません。同報告書は国民がもっと危機感を持つべきだと結んでいます。まったくその通りだと思います。
pushed further into uncharted territoryは、文字通りは「海図のない（uncharted）領域にさらに押しやられた」という意味ですが、まだどの先進国も体験したことのない先の見えない領域に突入したという、過激なフレーズです。政府が使っている「待ったなしの」というフレーズとは大きな差があります。（GP）

Raising sales tax is “top priority” for Japan, says OECD

Japan must raise its sales tax beginning with 2014, if it wants to keep under a control the public debt, which is set to increase further from this year’s level of 214 percent of GDP to 223 percent next year.

The conclusion was stated in a report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, based in Paris, France.

Japan’s public finances are pushed further into uncharted territory, OECD said, so raising the sales tax from 5 to 10 percent by 2015, according to prime minister Yoshihiko Noda’s plan, is a “top priority”, while balancing the budget and reducing the public debt is “essential”, according to the organization.

The alternative to these measures is that the government would have to increase its borrowing costs, the report said.

Japan was recently criticized by the chief of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for how it is running its economy. The country needs a bigger “sense of crisis”, said Angel Gurria, the secretary general of the OECD, an organisation of the richest countries in the world.