Economic Planning Agency chief Taichi Sakaiya, asked on Friday about reports that the package would total 15 trillion yen, told Reuters: "That would be close". But he said public works and other core fiscal spending in the package would be about six trillion yen - at the low end of expectations. Package not seen growing more, bond issuance unclear.

It remained unclear how much of that six trillion yen would need to be financed by selling government bonds for a supplementary budget for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2000. The government must also cover an estimated one trillion yen in tax revenue shortfalls and the finance ministry is still deciding the price for a forthcoming sale of shares in Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp (NTT), which will cut the government's stake to about 53 per cent from 59 per cent.

Sakaiya said he did not expect the three-party ruling coalition to seek a further expansion of the package, which prime minister Keizo Obuchi has ordered as a means to keep a promise of economic growth in the current fiscal year. Obuchi faces a general election by next October.

Obuchi called for a package of more than 10 trillion yen and senior government officials had predicted it would be 11 trillion to 12 trillion yen, so this week's increase in the headline figure has put upward pressure on interest rates and the yen.

Japan has rolled out a series of giant stimulus packages in the decade since its economic "bubble" of inflated asset prices burst, culminating in a record 24 trillion yen package.