TOKYO, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- The Japanese government on Friday approved a second stimulus package totaling 1.2 trillion yen ( around 14.6 billion U.S. dollars) in a bid to bolster the nation's anemic economy.
The package, to be funded by reserves in the fiscal 2012 budget, is aimed at boosting social security facilities, creating more jobs and providing financial support to small and medium-sized businesses.
The Japanese Cabinet said that 880.3 billion yen (around 10.7 billion U.S. dollars), has been earmarked to be spent on these projects and to slow Japan's imminent descent into its third technical recession since 2008.
According to the government's latest figures, the world's third largest economy shrank 3.5 percent in the July-September quarter, and leading economists predict that GDP figures for the current quarter, despite an increase in industrial output in October, will confirm that the Japanese economy has entered a recession phase.
However, government officials on Friday said the new package, the second of its kind in as many months, would create a total of around 120,000 new jobs and add 0.4 percent to Japan's overall GDP within a 12-month period.
"The latest stimulus package will a have positive impact on supporting the economy as they includes deregulation measures, outlays for rebuilding the disaster-hit areas and revitalization of the economy," Finance Minister Koriki Jojima told a news conference earlier Friday.
The latest package comes ahead of a general election scheduled for December 16 and Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda may come under fire for unrolling the spending package as a means to garner electoral votes as the ruling Democratic Party of Japan gears up to fight an almost insurmountable battle against the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party to stay in power.
Nutritious lunch provided in Taipei's elementary school
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