Japan is drawing up an economic stimulus package worth eight trillion yen ($73 billion) to help businesses and consumers cope with soaring fuel and commodity prices, reports said on Saturday.

News of the package came on the heels of a government announcement this month that the world's second-largest economy shrank for the first time in a year in the second quarter due to faltering exports and sluggish consumer demand,said the report in the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication.

The package will include measures to help agricultural and fishing businesses hit hard by soaring fuel costs, the Kyodo news agency and the Yomiuri newspaper reported, citing unnamed government sources. More than 3,000 Japanese fishermen held a strike last month to demand the government action to protect their businesses from skyrocketing oil prices.

The package will also aim to slash expressway tolls, expand medical services for the elderly and support small- and mid-sized firms struggling because of rising commodity prices, the reports said.

The government will finalise the package by the end of the month.

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda hoped the package would help boost his sluggish public support, which remains stuck around 20 per cent. A recent cabinet reshuffle barely boosted his popularity.

The government is to compile a supplementary budget for the current fiscal year to March to partly finance the package. - TradeArabia News service