As debate heats up within the government over ways public funds can be used to restore Japan's financial stability, Finance Minister Hiroshi Mitsuzuka stressed Friday that what such an outlay would attempt to do must first be clarified.
"We need to clarify what use the funds would serve so that the general public will support the idea," Mitsuzuka told a regularly scheduled news conference, adding that any policy steps must be in line with the government's plan to reduce its fiscal deficit to no more than 3 percent of gross domestic product by fiscal 2003.
Later that night, Mitsuzuka met with Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, who had just returned from a five-day trip to Canada, to discuss the latest developments in the financial sector and what progress had been made in the debate on using public funds.