Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will release on Thursday his budget-drafting policy for fiscal 2003, following a basic policy released last week, Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said Tuesday.
After meeting with Koizumi at the prime minister's office, Shiokawa told reporters Koizumi said he will release additional policies at a meeting Thursday of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy.
Koizumi said at a council meeting last week that the sizes of the general-account budget as well as policy-related outlays in the general account for fiscal 2003 should be held to the same level or lower than in the fiscal 2002 budget in a bid to maintain fiscal restraint.
The directive constituted part of a set of his instructions on tax and budget reforms.
The more detailed instructions to be issued Thursday will cover such issues as the budget earmarked for public works in fiscal 2003, Shiokawa indicated.