DPJ's Okada says stimulus package possible if party takes power

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TOKYO, Aug. 10 Kyodo -
Secretary General Katsuya Okada of the main opposition Democratic Party of
Japan said Monday that a DPJ-led government may put together an additional
economic stimulus package to prop up the economy if it takes power after the
general election later this month.
Okada also said his party's growth strategy will center on domestic demand
rather than on exports, because during the years of the nation's export-led
growth, people's incomes barely increased even though the economy grew.
In a related move, the DPJ decided Monday to add this growth strategy to its
campaign platform, with plans to unveil it on Tuesday, party sources said.
''I don't reject (the idea of) implementing new economic stimulus measures,''
Okada told a meeting in Tokyo of mostly economists and analysts from financial
institutions, saying that doing so would be possible depending on the
situation.
''There is an option of frontloading the DPJ policies,'' he added, alluding to
the possibility of implementing campaign proposals aimed at supporting
individual households sooner than originally planned.
The DPJ has proposed making tuition for public high schools free and initially
paying half of its proposed 26,000 yen monthly allowance per child per
household from the fiscal year starting next April.
Okada also indicated that as a source for funding such stimulus measures, a
DJP-led government would use money that could be freed up by freezing projects
the government regards as wasteful.
While addressing the need to cut the nation's staggering outstanding debts,
which exceed 800 trillion yen, the former DPJ leader said it is necessary to
restore the economy to a ''normal state'' swiftly before embarking on other
efforts aimed at restoring fiscal health.
Okada said that while he wants to see a program to restore the nation's
finances drawn up before compiling the budget for the next fiscal year, ''there
are uncertain factors about whether (the economy) will be revived.''
In advocating a growth strategy centering on domestic demand, Okada said the
global economic downturn has hit Japan particularly hard because its economy is
led by export-dependent companies. ''This economic model must now be changed,''
he said.
Noting that governments led by the Liberal Democratic Party have long
distributed money to consumers largely through organizations, Okada said, ''We
will distribute (money) directly to individuals.''
Among the DPJ proposals aimed at putting money into the hands of consumers are
the monthly child allowance and the abolition of expressway tolls. A cut in the
petroleum tax has also been proposed.
''Through such measures, we will aim to increase the people's incomes and boost
individual consumption,'' he said. ''In so doing, we aim to realize an economy
led by domestic demand.''
To boost individual consumption, he said, medium- to long-term stability is
important. To ensure such stability, a DPJ-led government would make large
investments in such fields as pensions, medicine and care for the elderly, he
said.
==Kyodo