Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii said the nation’s economy is still “very unstable” and it is too early to say if the government will need a second extra budget to help it recover.
Fujii spoke in a pre-recorded interview with TBS Television in Tokyo today and commented on the budget to reporters after.
Japan’s Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama is seeking to reduce the economy’s reliance on exports and to bolster spending by households with childcare allowances, tax cuts and free high- school tuition. Fujii earlier today he said it’s too early for policy makers to withdraw measures to stimulate economic growth because the recovery has yet to take hold.
Deputy Prime Minister Naoto Kan earlier today said the government has 2.7 trillion yen ($29 billion) available to compile a second extra budget for this fiscal year.
Hatoyama froze 2.9 trillion yen from the nation’s first extra budget, which was compiled by the previous government. Only 2.7 trillion yen of the 2.9 trillion yen can be used in the year ending March 31 because of legislative reasons, Kan said.
