17 October 2001, 10:56  Japan LDP's Kyuma - Parties unable to approve extra budget as unclear

TOKYO (AFX-ASIA) - Fumio Kyuma, acting policy chief of the Liberal Democratic Party, said the three ruling coalition parties were unable immediately to approve the government's draft supplementary budget. The three parties' policy chiefs declined to approve the draft at a meeting this afternoon as the proposal is unclear on whether the government will abandon its 30 trln yen limit on new bond issues to boost the economy, he said. "Finance ministry officials noted the supplementary budget will total 2.7 trln yen but the policy chiefs believe the draft is unclear on whether to keep the 30 trln yen bond limit or spend more to avoid negative growth," he said. "We could not have approved the draft at this stage unless the government showed a much clearer picture," Kyuma told reporters after the meeting between policy chiefs and ministry officials to consider approving the draft. "The government's supplementary budget draft does not include anti-terrorism spending and, if needed, such spending will be added later," he said. "We did not discuss the possibility of compiling a second supplementary budget."

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