By Leika Kihara
TOKYO, May 22 (Reuters) – Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said on Friday the government will seek to avoid overly relying on new debt issuance if it were to compile an extra budget.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on Monday she had asked her cabinet to consider compiling a supplementary budget to fund steps to cushion the economic blow from a spike in costs brought by the Iran war.
Domestic media has reported that the supplementary budget for the current fiscal year could be sized at about 3 trillion yen ($18.9 billion).
“I should refrain from commenting on the exact size of the extra budget and I think the prime minister will explain more in detail on Monday. But the size is roughly around the level being talked about,” Katayama said.
Katayama also said she was instructed by the prime minister to minimise risks in coming up with steps to ease the economic pain from rising inflation.
“When we talk about minimising risk, it includes keeping good dialogue with financial markets. As the prime minister has said, we will seek ways to avoid as much as possible relying on issuance of deficit-covering bonds,” she told a press conference.
($1 = 159.0600 yen)
(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
