Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Wednesday his Cabinet will approve a supplementary budget next month to help Kyushu overcome the damage caused by twin earthquakes this month.
Abe told a meeting with business leaders from Kyushu that the Cabinet aims to approve the budget and submit it to the Diet on May 13. Part of the meeting was open to the media.
The budget's size has not yet been decided.
Earlier Wednesday, the Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, Komeito, agreed to try to get the budget through the Diet on May 17 in cooperation with opposition parties, ruling party lawmakers said.
Similarly, Toshiyuki Kato, Diet affairs chief of the main opposition Democratic Party, told a party meeting that he expects the Diet to approve the extra budget on May 17.
In the meeting with Abe, Yutaka Aso, chairman of the Kyushu Economic Federation, said reconstruction of the affected areas "will not be possible without the support of the government."
Aso called on the government to set aside funds to help the damaged districts, in Kumamoto and Oita prefectures.
Abe pledged commitment to assisting small- and medium-sized companies, as well as the agriculture and tourism sectors.
Speaking at a meeting of LDP lawmakers, party Secretary-General Sadakazu Tanigaki said he will do his best to revive the affected areas through early implementation of the envisaged budget.
He said he planned to visit quake-hit areas in Kumamoto Prefecture on Saturday.