Japan unveils $81 billion fresh economic stimulus
08 Dec 2009
The Japanese government today unveiled a fresh stimulus package worth 7.2 trillion yen ($81 billion) to pump-prime the economy amidst a weakening of the economy.
The new stimulus package would be worth a total of $274 billion, including the $81 billion in direct spending.
"The scale exceeds 24 trillion yen in terms of the value of projects," the government said in a statement.
The package is meant to boost a fragile recovery, which is now threatened by deflation and a strong yen that is hurting exports from the world's second-largest economy.
The announcement comes a week after the Bank of Japan released a 10 trillion yen credit programme in to counter deflation and a surging yen.
The 7.2 trillion yen stimulus package is intended to cover an estimated 3 trillion yen shortfall in tax receipts of local governments and fiscal spending of around 4 trillion yen.