Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama indicated Wednesday it is unlikely his government will be able to submit a second extra budget for fiscal 2009 to an extraordinary Diet session convening later this month, citing the lack of time for compilation.
"We're thinking it would be difficult to work out a supplementary budget in the next extraordinary session," Hatoyama told reporters in the evening. "We have limited time left before the session, and we also have to discuss a main budget for fiscal 2010."
But the leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan also underscored the importance of supporting the still fragile economy until the March 31 end of the current fiscal year.
Concerning bills to allow for a moratorium on loan repayments for small firms, a notion floated by financial services minister Shizuka Kamei, Hatoyama said Kamei has told him he is currently working on the bills jointly with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to rescue cash-strapped companies.
Kamei, who visited the prime minister at his office earlier in the day, told reporters afterward that Hatoyama told him he would leave in his hands the compilation work of the bills.
Kamei aims to submit the bills during the upcoming extraordinary session.
On the ongoing revision of the already formulated extra budget totaling ¥14.7 trillion for fiscal 2009, Hatoyama said he wants ministries and agencies to make further efforts to cut more wasteful spending after the government announced Tuesday it has managed to scrape together more than ¥2.5 trillion from the extra budget.