By David Dolan and Tim Kelly
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan could see new economic stimulus, including a possible fourth additional budget, as the government expands the state to an emergency record increase in coronovirus infections, a key minister said on Thursday.
In an interview with the Regulator Next Conference, Regulatory and Administrative Reform Minister Taro Kono said, “Suddenly demand has gone, so I think the government will be ready to put money into the economy, if necessary.”
Japan has done a better job than the United States and Europe to deal with the outbreak of Conovirus, but the government should consider the development of Kono as “we can’t kill the economy”.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga escalated the state of Tokyo area of emergency to seven more districts amid criticism that his government worked too slowly to stop the epidemic.
Kono said such emergency measures could be longer than the one-month period initiated by the government.
“If necessary, the government will consider increasing it. We need to strike a balance between dealing with Kovid-19 and dealing with the economy,” he said.
The government, which last month approved an additional spending of $ 708 billion to the third supplementary budget for the fiscal year through March, has so far committed to spending about $ 3 trillion to help the economy recover from the epidemic. . .
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(Reporting by David Dolan and Tim Kelly)
