Tokyo, April 20 (Jiji Press)–The leaders of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, Komeito, failed at their meeting Wednesday to reach a conclusion on whether to draw up a fiscal 2022 supplementary budget for planned emergency economic measures to tackle rising prices.
   

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, president of the LDP, and Komeito head Natsuo Yamaguchi only confirmed that their parties will continue talks on the matter at a secretary-general level.
   

While Komeito is demanding that an extra budget be enacted during the current Diet session, the LDP is maintaining the position that the economic measures, which the government aims to adopt on Friday, can be funded from reserve funds in the government’s fiscal 2022 initial budget for the time being.
   

The Kishida-Yamaguchi meeting came after the two parties remained apart on the matter at meetings of their policy chiefs on Monday and of them plus the secretaries-general on Tuesday.
   

Following Wednesday’s meeting, Yamaguchi told reporters that his party will continue to seek the LDP’s agreement to compile an extra budget.
   

The Kishida administration is hesitant about compiling an extra budget during the ongoing parliamentary session, partly because it does not want to give the opposition camp an opportunity to grill the administration ahead of this summer’s House of Councillors election.
   

But Komeito policy chief Yuzuru Takeuchi said on Wednesday, “Even if we choose to use reserve funds (for the economic measures), we should hold Diet deliberations as much as possible.”