Japan launches new recovery package
Japan announced 80 billion dollars in new spending Tuesday as part of a stimulus package it said would be worth 274 billion dollars to jump-start a fragile recovery in Asia's biggest economy.
The pump-priming is meant to boost a gradual return to health from Japan's worst post-war recession, a rebound that started early this year but is now threatened by deflation and the strong yen's impact on exports.
"We must present an economic package promptly in order to make the economic recovery solid in the face of the current severe economic and employment situation, the yen's rise and deflation," the government said in a statement.
"We will do our utmost to regain (Japan's) vigour."
The cabinet of centre-left Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama decided the size of the package, to be financed by an extra budget for the fiscal year to March, after disagreements in the ruling coalition delayed it Friday.
The extra budget will require approval by the Diet legislature which is next scheduled to convene in January.
The whole package includes direct spending as well as loan guarantees and other measures that do not necessarily require government outlays totalling 24.4 trillion yen (274 billion dollars), the government said.
It would extend a reward programme for consumers who buy energy-efficient appliances, give loan guarantees for small and mid-size businesses, and include spending to help struggling companies retain workers.
"I believe we have made an economic package focussed on employment, the environment and economic measures," said Deputy Prime Minister Naoto Kan.
Japan's economy, after plunging into deep recession last year amid the global downturn, grew 4.8 percent on an annualised basis in the July-September quarter, the fastest rate in two and a half years, preliminary data showed.
Unemployment fell to 5.1 percent in October from 5.3 percent in September.
However, falling consumer prices and a surging yen, which hit a 14-year-high of about 84 to the dollar last month, have raised fears the recovery could stall. The dollar traded at around 89 yen in Tokyo Tuesday.
The latest plan means Japan has since the start of the global downturn launched four emergency stimulus packages totalling about 130 trillion yen, including direct spending of 26 trillion yen. However, some measures overlapped or were counted more than once.
Hatoyama's government, which ousted the long-ruling conservative party in a landslide election in August, earlier froze part of its predecessor's latest supplementary budget, which was worth 13.9 trillion yen.
It cited the need to slash government waste in Japan, where public debt is around 180 percent of gross domestic product, largely due to massive stimulus spending during the economic "lost decade" of the 1990s.
However, to help finance the new package and other spending, the government plans to issue new bonds worth more than 100 billion dollars, said Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii, who warned that "Japan's fiscal situation is serious."
Japan's public debt this fiscal year will reach 53.5 trillion yen, topping the year's tax revenue for the first time since 1946, the government said.
The new stimulus package was held up Friday when the financial services minister, Shizuka Kamei, boycotted a ministerial meeting while demanding additional spending. The package was later boosted by 100 billion yen.
Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan needs the support of Kamei's smaller People's New Party to ensure passage of laws in the upper house.
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