Tokyo - The Japanese parliament on Thursday approved a supplementary budget of 1.81 trillion yen (17.85 billion dollars) for the 2008 fiscal year through March, mainly to finance the government's economic stimulus package amid the global financial crisis.

The stimulus package allocates 446.9 billion yen to measures to support small businesses and 188.1 billion yen to promote energy-saving efforts and to help the agriculture and fisheries industries deal with higher oil prices.

About 351.8 billion yen of the extra budget will go to reduce the financial burden on the elderly under a medical insurance programme introduced last April, while 729.6 billion yen will be spent for disaster prevention measures.

The government and the ruling parties were expected to propose additional economic measures to help tackle the global financial crisis. (dpa)