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

The Prime Minister said in his opening address, "This will be the first annual budget for the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) administration to formulate from scratch. I believe the budget should carry on the spirit of putting the lives of the people first, by focusing on areas such as growth, employment, and childrearing support based on the New Growth Strategy, and also become the driver for Japan to break free from deflation. Additionally, the grand scheme to change the form of our nation to that of regional sovereignty, such as the introduction of block grants subsidies, will also be realized through this budget.
In any case, we will be approaching the final stage of the budget formulation in line with this basic policy. In doing so, we must make sure not to issue more than 44 trillion yen of government bonds, and keep the general government expenditures to within 71 trillion yen. This would at least be the first step forward toward fiscal discipline and the restoration of fiscal health, as set in the Fiscal Management Strategy. Although the situation is still difficult, I would like to realize as many items as possible laid out in the Strategy."