Japan ruling party approves $154 bn stimulus spending

Japan's ruling party said on Thursday that it had approved record stimulus spending of about 154 billion dollars to resuscitate the recession-hit economy. Spending on the emergency economic measures should total some 15.4 trillion yen, the party's policy board announced. In total the stimulus package will be worth more than 56.8 trillion yen ($570 billion) when non-spending steps such as loan guarantees for firms are included, the board said. Prime Minister Taro Aso is expected to unveil the package later this week, before submitting a supplementary budget to parliament for approval. The injection is the latest in a series of stimulus packages aimed at pulling the Japanese economy out of its worst slump since World War II.