Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto implied to a Diet committee March 27 that after the fiscal 1998 budget bills are passed, he will discuss revising the Fiscal Structural Reform Law, a legal barrier to powerful pump-priming measures such as income tax cuts.

He dropped the hint in response to a question during deliberations on the budget at the Upper House Budget Committee. "I don't think it is impermissible to take needed measures in response to the situations of the economy," Hashimoto said in response to a question asking if he would seek to revise the law. His comment follows yet another hint late Thursday that he will convene a meeting of the Conference on Fiscal Structural Reform to seek the law revision.

Hashimoto, chairman of the conference, dropped the Thursday hint to former Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa, who recommended that he convene the meeting. The conference consists of top officials of the government and the ruling alliance, former prime ministers and former finance ministers. The council would give him cover to reverse his economic course and spur the sagging economy.

Also, Hashimoto told a government meeting that he would take seriously the economic stimulus steps presented by the three parties supporting his Cabinet and promised the government will also look into steps to revive the economy in line with their views. The Liberal Democratic Party and its two non-Cabinet allies -- the Social Democratic Party and New Party Sakigake -- submitted to the government March 26 a pump-priming package they said would be worth more than 16 trillion yen.

Hashimoto said that while priority at the moment still rests with securing the swift passage of the fiscal 1998 state budget and related tax revisions, it was equally imperative that "effective measures" be taken in line with changes in the economic and financial environment both at home and abroad. "The government shares the (three parties') opinion that the country must get out of the severe economic situation it is now experiencing, and the government will reach a conclusion (on stimulus measures) after confirming various developments," he told a morning meeting of economic and financial ministers.

Taku Yamasaki, chairman of the LDP's policy affairs research council, hinted late Thursday after the package was approved by the two other parties that the possibility of income tax cuts might surface over the coming month, during which the details of the 16 trillion yen package are hammered out. "(Tax cuts) are not part of the package at this stage ... but it is a fact that there are demands" for them from the three parties, he acknowledged.