Tokyo - Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso on Tuesday ordered the government to draw up a supplemental budget by mid-April to finance fresh economic measures.

The new stimulus package, to be implemented over several years, would fund "drastic steps to boost domestic demand and create jobs."

To finance the stimulus package, Aso indicated that he may issue deficit-covering bonds in addition to reserves in the special account for fiscal investment and lending, as well as construction bonds.

Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano told a press conference, "I believe that what we need is to prepare steps to prevent the economy from sinking deeper into recession and prevent as much as possible social tragedies such as unemployment, employment instability and corporate bankruptcies."

Before leaving for a Group of 20 summit meeting in London, Aso announced the plan for new stimulus measures but stopped short of explaining details of stimulus measures.

But according to sources quoted by Kyodo News Agency, the amount would at least be around 10 trillion yen (102.81 billion dollars).

The measures include plans to incorporate "green" technology, increase public works and improve services industries such as medicine and nursing care.

The parliament on Friday approved a record 88.5-trillion-yen (902.74 billion dollars) budget for fiscal 2009, which begins Wednesday.

Since Aso took office in September, the government has worked out a set of fiscal stimulus steps worth a total of 75 trillion yen, involving actual fiscal spending of 12 trillion yen that will amount to about 2 per cent of the roughly 500-trillion-yen gross domestic product. (dpa)