In an effort to recover public confidence in the nation's plummeting economy, Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto next week might announce a shift from his austerity policy to one of economic stimulation.

Any such decision would be announced after the fiscal 1998 budget bills clear the Upper House, which would come Wednesday at the earliest. The top executive members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party basically agreed Friday to call on Hashimoto -- when he returns from Europe -- to publicly explain what he plans to do to lift the country out of recession.

LDP Secretary General Koichi Kato told reporters that it would be good for Hashimoto to speak to the public about domestic matters. "Since people consider the prime minister effective at foreign affairs, it would be good for him to speak to them about domestic matters," Kato said.

Kato also said that one of the reasons Hashimoto has not been able to clearly explain his economic policy is that the 1988 budget bills are now being debated in the Upper House, suggesting that Hashimoto will announce a shift from fiscal reconsolidation to pump-priming as soon as the budget bills are passed.

It is expected that Hashimoto will announce that he will hold a meeting to revise the Fiscal Structural Reform Law, a legal barrier to powerful pump-priming measures such as a large-scale income tax cut.

Although on numerous occasions Hashimoto has implied an economic policy change, he has never come out and described any concrete alterations. Doing so would invite strong criticism from opposition parties and could affect passage of the fiscal 1998 budget bills.