TOKYO, Oct. 19 (Kyodo) - Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said Friday the proposed 2.7 trillion yen supplementary budget for the current fiscal year will cover immediate costs associated with dealing with mad cow disease. "Measures on mad cow disease that need to be addressed immediately will be included in the (proposed) supplementary budget," Shiokawa told a regular news conference. The finance minister said, however, measures such as prevention of the disease should be dealt with by the regular budget. The proposed extra budget for the current fiscal year through next March 31 focuses mainly on job measures and structural reforms. Measures to counter terrorism are also expected to be included. Shiokawa said there is opposition within the ruling coalition parties to the proposed supplementary budget, but added he is gaining "a certain level of understanding." On Thursday, Shiokawa explained the extra budget to the Liberal Democratic Party Policy Deliberation Commission, which rejected the proposal on the grounds that it is too small to stimulate the faltering economy. The extra budget will also be discussed Friday evening at a meeting of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy headed by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. The finance minister also reiterated at the press conference that the nation's economy may contract in fiscal 2001, saying, "It is highly likely that the economy will contract... although I made utmost efforts" to prevent it from doing so. On foreign exchange matters, Shiokawa repeated earlier comments that the exchange rate should reflect Japan's economic fundamentals, suggesting the government will not tolerate rapid rises of the yen against the dollar.