At the upcoming Group of 20 summit Japan will say that it remains committed to keeping fiscal spending in place to address the global economic downturn, Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii said today.
Fujii said Japan will explain at the two-day summit of major developed and emerging countries that the new administration has no plans to freeze the current stimulus spending, but will find some wasteful programs in the fiscal 2009 extra budget and scrape together "several trillion yen" to fund its key polices instead.
"I believe the economy is more important" than fixing Japan's troubled fiscal position in the short run, Fujii said at a news conference, adding that this does not mean he is indifferent to the need to cut Japan's spiraling debt.
"As to whether the country will prepare additional stimulus packages, Fujii said he has to keep close tabs on Japan's economic situation as "the time gets deeper into autumn."
"I will not make careless remarks," he said. Fujii's remarks came amid some confusion at home and overseas that Japan might now pursue budgetary austerity as the new administration has pledged to cut wasteful spending on public works and unnecessary stimulus steps.
The Democratic Party of Japan-led government is reviewing Japan's biggest-ever extra budget, crafted by the previous administration and already approved in the Diet earlier this year.