September 25, 2002	Wednesday	Rajab 17, 1423

COPENHAGEN, Sept 24: Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi denied on Tuesday he was planning to draft an extra budget for public works to boost demand in the country’s struggling economy.

“In the past there have been suggestions to expand public works investment in order to create demand,” he told reporters at the end of an Asia-EU summit in the Danish capital Copenhagen.

But he said: “We are not thinking of that sort of measure. We are not thinking in terms of the budget, even in terms of an ad hoc budget.”

“At this moment I have no intention to take measures to keep up share prices or to jack up demand through public works investment,” he added.

His comments came after a newspaper report on Monday said that Japan’s ruling party may draft an extra budget to expand the 15 trillion yen ($122 billion) pool of public funds that can be used to ward off a financial crisis.

The Liberal Democratic Party “may present assistance measures in the financial field in the form of a supplementary budget,” the Nihon Keizai Shimbun quoted party Secretary-General Taku Yamasaki as saying.

Yamasaki, a close aide of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, made the remark during a visit to China on Sunday, the economic daily said.—AFP