Prime Minister Fumio Kishida arrives at his office in Tokyo on Nov. 5, 2021. (Kyodo

       JAPAN (Kyodo) -- An economic policy panel of Japan's government will propose promoting efforts to digitalize local areas through a significant amount of subsidies as part of fresh stimulus to revitalize the coronavirus-hit economy, a draft document showed Friday.

       In its "urgent proposals" toward realization of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's signature "new capitalism" vision, the panel will also urge the government to encourage businesses to raise wages through such incentives as tax break and subsidies, according to the document obtained by Kyodo News.

       The panel is expected to make those proposals possibly on Monday, government sources said. Last week, Kishida instructed the body to come up with the suggestions.

       Kishida, who became prime minister in early October and led the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to victory in last Sunday's general election, has vowed to draw up an economic policy package worth "tens of trillions of yen."

       To finance the economic policy package, the government will compile a supplementary budget for fiscal 2021 that started in April. Kishida has said that his administration aims to have parliament enact it by the year-end.

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