The current Diet session will be asked to approve a supplementary fiscal 1999 budget and other legislation that would finance a package of job-creating measures and implement steps aimed at reviving Japan's industrial competitiveness, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka said Friday.
It was earlier believed the government would wait until the fall before submitting the package to an extraordinary session. But Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi now appears determined to act swiftly.
The estimated 500 billion yen emergency package, which targets more than 700,000 jobs, was adopted earlier in the day at a government task force meeting on industrial restructuring and employment, headed by Obuchi.