JAPAN ECONOMIC PACKAGE AFTER BUDGET - MIYAZAWA
Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa said
Japan plans to announce a package of economic measures
immediately after the 1987/88 budget passes Parliament.
    The passage of the full budget is expected after May 20 as
the government has decided to compile a 50-day stop-gap budget
for the year starting April 1. An opposition boycott over a
proposed sales tax has disrupted parliamentary business.
    Miyazawa told a press conference Prime Minister Yasuhiro
Nakasone is unlikely to take the package to Washington.
    Nakasone hopes to meet President Reagan in late April or
early May to prepare for the Venice economic summit in June.
    Asked if he planned to visit the U.S. To attend monetary
conferences including International Monetary Fund meetings in
early April, Miyazawa said he will make a decision carefully on
the matter, taking into account parliament debate.
    The package is likely to include a record amount of public
works spending in the first 1987/88 half, Miyazawa said.
    Miyazawa said the provisional budget will total about 8,800
billion yen and incorporate a little more than 1,800 billion
for public works. Japan expects the stop-gap budget to help
spur the economy, Miyazawa said.
    Miyazawa said the Government and the ruling Liberal
Democratic Party will seek the passage of the bills related to
the controversial sales tax without any revision.
    Japanese press reports had previously interpretated remarks
by a top government official as indicating a revision of the
tax but the official did not mean that, Miyazawa said.
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