Japan's parliament passes largest-ever extra budget (Roundup)

Tokyo - The Japanese parliament on Friday approved an extra budget worth about 13.93 trillion yen (144.41 billion dollars) for fiscal 2009 that began in April to help the world's second-largest economy out of recession. The government plans to issue bonds worth 10.8 trillion yen including deficit bonds, to allocate 2.58 trillion yen for public works projects and 1.58 trillion yen for measures to create a more low-carbon society. The main opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan, which called Prime Minister Taro Aso's economic stimulus measures 'pork-barrel spending,' has been demanding an early election. Aso's term is up on September 10, and the lower house must be dissolved and elections held by then. The prime minister has said his stimulus package, which would be funded by the extra budget, would help boost Japan's gross domestic product (GDP) growth by about 2 percentage points during the current fiscal year. The extra budget comes at a time when the economic picture for the country is mixed, according to the latest figures released by the government. Monthly household spending, which accounts for more than half of Japan's GDP, was down by 1.3 per cent in April to 306,340 yen compared to the same month a year before, a government report said Friday. The core nationwide consumer price index remained in deflationary territory in April, falling 0.1 per cent compared to a year before, reflecting falling petrol prices and weakening demand amid the global economic slump. The economic stimulus was needed especially in the job market, according to the government data. Japan's unemployment rate hit a five-year high at 5 per cent in April, when 3.46 million people were jobless, up 25.8 per cent from last year. There were only 46 jobs available for every 100 jobseekers, making the ratio the worst since June 1999. Although analysts expected further worsening of the nation's job market, which could push the unemployment rate up to 5.5 per cent near the end of the year, they said the number of new job offers in April indicated the deterioration would soon ease. But the nation's industrial output rose at the fastest rate for almost 60 years in April at 5.2 per cent up on the previous month, which indicated domestic and overseas demand are returning for manufactured goods such as cars and semiconductors. The April figure led the government to upgrade its overall assessment and positive prospects for output in the next couple of months. The ministry said it expected output to increase by 8.8 per cent in May and 2.7 per cent in June.