Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will order his government to compile extra economic stimulus measures as early as November, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Tuesday.
The move would signal the government's readiness to deploy more support to cushion Japan's economy from the significant disruption to consumers and businesses by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The measures could focus on supporting tourism and the restaurant industry from declining consumption, the Nikkei said.
There was no change to the government's willingness to roll out economic measures if conditions required it, the top government spokesman said when asked about potential stimulus.
"As for financial matters, there is 7.8 trillion yen in coronavirus reserve funds remaining. We'll utilise that balance first," Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told reporters at a news conference.
The government may also consider extending a "Go To Travel" initiative to subsidise domestic tourism as part of the stimulus, the Nikkei reported, without saying how it got the information.
Japan has already rolled out $2.2 trillion in fiscal stimulus in response to the health crisis, including cash payouts to households and small business loans that were partly funded via two supplementary budgets.
The government could decide in late December on a draft of a third extra budget to fund the expected measures, when it draws up plans for next fiscal year's budget, the Nikkei said.
The world's third-largest economy has started to recover from the impact the coronavirus has had on demand at home and abroad, including the hit to global trade that hurt Japan's exports of cars and other manufactured products.
The government last Wednesday said economic activity likely stopped contracting in August.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Dear Reader,
Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.
We, however, have a request.
As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.
Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.
Digital Editor
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU