When adopting budget guidelines for the next fiscal year, Mr. Obuchi made it clear that stimulating the economy is the prime target. Obuchi administration officials said this allocation was intended to break up the rigid shares of public works funds traditionally handed to each ministry. While most initial spending requests were due at the Ministry of Finance by August 31, those seeking a share of the special bracket spending have until October 31. MOC plans to increase urban infrastructure outlays by nearly 70 percent from the initial fiscal 1998 budget, focusing on redeveloping urban areas to revitalize the property market. The ministry hopes that this will help financial institutions to dispose of nonperforming loans by boosting sales of real estate held as collateral.
MOT plans to allocate funds to subsidize airport-landing charges in smaller cities.
The ministry plans to hire 105 new employees and to establish new embassies in Azerbaijan and Mozambique, as well as a consulate general in Cape Town, South Africa. It aims to continue research on hormone-disrupting substances, especially work on developing ways to determine which chemicals are disruptive. The agency will support efforts by local governments to analyze and measure dioxins while it works to develop techniques to clean up dioxin-contaminated soil. Many small companies are struggling to stay afloat because banks burdened by nonperforming loans have toughened their lending standards. The new program would replace a current law that promotes modernization at small and medium-sized companies.