BEIJING - JAPAN'S Prime Minister Taro Aso on Friday ruled out calling a snap election for now despite mounting speculation, saying voters want him to concentrate on handling the financial crisis.

'I've been repeating the same thing,' Mr Aso told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of Asian and European leaders in Beijing.

'Now is the time of an unprecedented financial crisis,' he said.

'(And) Corporate managers are becoming aware that the crisis in finance is expanding to the whole economy.'

The former foreign minister took over as premier on September 24 from Mr Yasuo Fukuda who resigned amid sagging popularity.

But Mr Aso's initial poll ratings disappointed strategists in his conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) who hoped he could call an election quickly to contain a rising opposition, which controls one house of parliament.

Japanese media reports have said the LDP lawmakers are now divided between those who presses for an early election date and those who prefers a vote sometime next year. A senior LDP lawmaker recently said Mr Aso is likely to declare when to call a snap election at the end of this month.

Mr Aso last week told ministers to work out a second set of pump-priming measures by the end of the month as the economy teeters on recession, after the parliament enacted an 1.81 trillion yen (US$28.7 billion) supplementary budget. -- AFP