Prime Minister Naoto Kan held a meeting of the Ministerial Committee on the Economy at the Prime Minister's Office.

The Prime Minister said in his address, "As the yen is strengthening, and at the same time there are concerns about overseas economies slowing down, Japan is facing the economy’s downside risk. In order to respond swiftly toward such risk and create a foundation to overcome deflation, I have decided to create economic measures that deliver immediate results by utilizing the approximately 920 billion yen of the Reserve Budget for Emergency Economic Responses and Revitalization of the Regions.
Today the Basic Policy on Economic Measures was decided on, comprising the five pillars of employment, investment, consumption, disaster countermeasures for the regions, and reforms of regulations and systems. I would like to ask Mr. Satoshi Arai, Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy, to compile the specific measures in order to reach a Cabinet decision on these economic measures on September 10 based on the Basic Policy.
Furthermore, from there on, the Basic Policy also sets out that we decide on further specific measures, etc., using the Reserve Budget in September, as well as consider a supplementary budget as necessary.
I would first like to respond in a flexible manner with the two pillars, the Basic Policy on Economic Measures and the new monetary policy that the Bank of Japan decided on.
For the future, while paying close attention to the economic trends and situation, I would like to be thoroughly prepared to respond, not only this time, but to the next steps as well."