Japan Ruling Bloc, DPFP to Continue Economic Talks

Tokyo, Nov. 15 (Jiji Press)--Policy chiefs from Japan's ruling bloc and the opposition Democratic Party for the People on Friday agreed to continue talks on a proposed economic package as they failed to reach agreement.

DPFP policy chief Makoto Hamaguchi apparently sought to clarify the government's stance on the party's demand for raising the minimum taxable income to increase take-home pay.

A draft economic package presented by the government to the ruling bloc Thursday included resuming electricity and city gas subsidies and paying benefits to low-income households, but did not mention the DPFP's income tax proposal.

Itsunori Onodera, policy chief at the Liberal Democratic Party, the dominant partner in the ruling bloc, played down the failure to reach agreement at Friday's meeting.

The ruling coalition and the DPFP are in agreement to pass a supplementary budget aimed at financing the economic package during the upcoming extraordinary parliamentary session, Onodera told reporters.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]