TOKYO (Reuters). Fumio, Japan’s premier, called on Monday to establish a $88Billion university fund. Another one was created on Monday to help support digital and green innovations as pillars in the country’s future growth strategies.

Government officials stated that certain growth initiatives like the university funds will probably be part of the plan stimulus package, which Kishida pledged to create around the middle or the end of March.

The growth strategy of the panel, presented to it at Monday’s meeting, did not mention the details or size of the stimulus, nor the extra budget required for its funding.

This strategy will be a guideline for Kishida, as he seeks to implement an economic policy combination of the pro-growth policies of Shinzo Abe’s stimulus measures and attempts to shift more wealth directly from households to companies.

In its recommendations, the panel stated that to establish the highest-quality research university worldwide, it was necessary to set up a university fund worth 10 trillion yen by the end of the fiscal year.

“We need to make bold investment in R&D in areas such as digital, green, AI, quantum … as a step towards an advanced science technology nation.”

The panel recommended that the tax system be reformed in order to re-distribute wealth. This will allow companies to increase their pay through tax credits and other methods.

According to Kyodo News, the proposals are coming as Kishida’s government considers an economic stimulus package of more than 30 trillion Japanese yen ($265billion) in order to alleviate the COVID-19 pandemic pain. This would require selling new bonds.

Kishida also promised to make economic security a priority, which includes boosting the domestic production of semiconductors.

The panel recommended that a supply chain be established and domestic chips factories built with support from the state in the next few years.

According to the report, up to 50% of Taiwan’s TSMC investment in a 1-trillion-yen (8.82 billion dollars) chip plant to be built in Kumamoto (southern Japan), will likely get subsidised by the government.

($1 = 113.3500 yen)