Fujii to address stimulus at G-20

Japan will make clear at the upcoming Group of 20 summit that it remains committed to keeping fiscal spending in place to address the global economic slump, Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii said Friday.

Fujii said Japan will explain at the two-day summit of major developed and emerging countries that the new administration has no plans to freeze current stimulus spending but will instead identify wasteful programs in the fiscal 2009 extra budget and scrape together "several trillion yen" to fund key polices.

"I believe the economy is more important" than fixing Japan's troubled fiscal position in the short run, Fujii said at a news conference, adding that this doesn't mean he's indifferent to the need to reduce the nation's spiraling debt.

As to whether Japan will prepare additional stimulus packages, Fujii said he has to keep close tabs on Japan's situation as "the time gets further into autumn."

"I will not make careless remarks," he said.