The three ruling parties aim to enact a 2.5 trillion yen supplementary budget for the current fiscal year on Jan. 31 in a bid to stimulate the economy, coalition sources said Wednesday.
The parties want to pass the second extra budget for fiscal 2001 in the House of Representatives on Jan. 28 and get it through the House of Councilors at the end of the month after both chambers hold three-day debates on the measure, they said.
If the opposition camp agrees to the timetable, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will deliver a policy speech Feb. 1, and representatives of the ruling and opposition parties will question him and members of his Cabinet for three days starting Feb. 4, they said.
The ruling parties -- the Liberal Democratic Party, New Komeito and the New Conservative Party -- also agreed on their intended parliamentary schedule under which Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa will deliver a financial policy speech on the extra budget at the beginning of the 150-day regular Diet session slated to convene Jan. 21, the sources said.
They plan to arrange for the ruling and opposition party representatives to pose questions about the extra budget on Jan. 22 at the Lower House and Jan. 23 at the Upper House, they said.
The government on Dec. 20 adopted the extra budget in a bid to shore up the struggling economy and prevent it from falling into a deflationary spiral, as well as a 82.23 trillion yen fiscal 2002 draft budget.