JAPANESE Economics Minister Kaoru Yosano yesterday said the government should increase its bank bailout scheme to about 10 trillion yen (US$106 billion) from 2 trillion yen.

"Right now we can use 2 trillion yen. But that's probably insufficient ... Whether we'll use it or not, we should have about 10 trillion yen on the table," Yosano said in a TV Asahi program.

Japan last week came up with a plan to inject up to 2 trillion yen of public funds into banks to fight the global financial crisis, which has roiled markets and threatens to tip the developed world into recession.

Although Japanese banks have been relatively unharmed by the credit crisis, the plunge in Tokyo shares in the past few months is threatening their balance sheets as they hold a considerable amount of Japanese stocks.

Japanese share prices fell to a 5-year low on Friday, and have lost half of their value so far this year, on investor worries that Japanese corporate earnings could evaporate on a rise in the yen and a severe slowdown in the world economy.

Japan's business daily Nikkei reported yesterday that the government would announce additional steps to stabilize financial markets before the start of trade today. Tokyo is considering banning so-called naked short-selling and introducing a rule requiring stock investors to disclose massive short-selling transactions. Naked short-selling refers to selling a stock without first borrowing the shares to sell.