In a rare gesture of ministerial dissent over a government policy that has just been formulated, the industry and land ministers said Friday that a planned supplementary budget for fiscal 2002 is too small.
Takeo Hiranuma, minister of economy, trade and industry, went as far as to call for the compilation of a second extra budget, stating that the initial supplementary budget will offer insufficient protection for small companies.
Hiranuma told reporters he issued this entreaty during an informal gathering of Cabinet ministers after a meeting in which they were formally instructed by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to work on specific details relating to the compilation of an extra budget.