Yosano hints at 10 trillion yen as size of fresh fiscal spending

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TOKYO, March 22 Kyodo -
Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano indicated Sunday an additional economic stimulus
package being mulled by the government and ruling parties may involve at least
10 trillion yen in fiscal spending.
Appearing on a program of a commercial TV station, Yosano said the spending
would be much larger than 2 trillion to 3 trillion yen as the country's current
economic downturn ''cannot be tackled with spending of such a scale.''
As for a call from some ruling party politicians for the government to spend 20
trillion yen to supplement a shortage of demand in the Japanese economy, a sum
based on estimates by the Cabinet Office, Yosano said, ''The figure is not bad
for mere guesswork.''
The finance minister also gave a pessimistic forecast for Japanese economic
growth, saying the country's gross domestic product during the January-to-March
quarter will likely post negative growth of roughly the same margin as the
annualized 12.1 percent contraction registered in the preceding
October-to-December period.
The 12.1 percent fall was by far the sharpest economic contraction among
industrialized nations during the final quarter of 2008, with even the United
States, the epicenter of the current financial and economic crisis, posting
only a 6.2 percent decline.
While the International Monetary Fund puts its estimate for Japan's GDP growth
for 2009 at a 5.8 percent drop, Yosano said the economic shrinkage could be
bigger than 6 percent.
==Kyodo
2009-03-22 20:48:13