Japan's Financial Services Minister Taro Aso says he will not accept a controversial report that says elderly couples need 20-million yen for retirement. He says this is not the government's stance.

A Financial Services Agency panel recently proposed guidelines on asset building for retirement, saying elderly couples need assets worth 20-million yen, or 190,000 dollars, to make up for revenue shortfalls.

Aso said on Tuesday that the report does not refer to any problem with the public pension system, and that it was inappropriate to use the word "shortfalls."

He said the report misled the public and made people worried, and that he will not accept it as an official report.

Aso, who is also the deputy prime minister, added that the report suggests that the public pension system is collapsing, but that this is not at all true.