"We intend to stand firm against price hikes," Yamaguchi said during his speech in Saitama Prefecture, as quoted by Japanese media.
The decision on the allocation of budget reserves for the current fiscal year is expected to be made on March 28 at a cabinet meeting, the report said.
The funds will be used to support low-income families, including payments of 50,000 yen for each child in such households, as well as for subsidies to compensate for the cost of liquefied petroleum gas, the news agency reported.
Core consumer prices in Japan, which do not include the cost of perishable food, increased by 3.1% in February after rising by 4.2% a month earlier, according to the latest data from the Statistics Bureau of Japan.