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

Discussion took place on how to proceed with the formulation of the FY2011 budget.

The Prime Minister said in his opening address, "The budget for the next fiscal year will be formulated based on guidelines such as the New Growth Strategy and the Fiscal Management Strategy. I would like you to approach budget formulation with the goal of restoring vigor to Japan by focusing on growth and employment in particular.
This time, we will launch a policy contest that welcomes comments and opinions in an open manner and establish a special reserve of significantly over one trillion yen which will be the source of funding for our radical reformulation programs. As Prime Minister, I will naturally make the final decision on the budget, but as part of the process leading up to my decision, I would like you to come up with proposals that are firmly in line with Cabinet policy and clearly modulated for priorities.
At the same time, as a precondition for making major progress on the creation of the special reserve, I would like to ask for your utmost effort on measures for the elimination of waste, including the review of government programmes."