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TOKYO, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Friday agreed to give 300,000 yen (2,800 U.S. dollars) in cash to each household whose income has fallen to a certain level owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I told the prime minister that 300,000 yen should be given to each household whose income has decreased to a certain level," LDP policy chief Fumio Kishida said.

Kishida made the remarks to reporters after the agreement was made in a meeting with the prime minister. He also said that the amount was decided upon based on a number of factors including average household numbers.

The amount initially floated by the government was a cash handout of 200,000 yen to each household, but was increased by 100,000 yen with Abe agreeing that households required more substantial support amid such trying times.

The government will give the cash to households "as soon as possible", Abe said, adding that small and medium-sized businesses have also suffered hardships due to the pandemic.

The financial support for households whose income has dropped to a certain level as a result of the virus will be allocated from a supplementary budget for this fiscal year, with the government seeking its swift passage through parliament.

The cash handouts will be made without setting an income limit and will be tax free, government officials said, although an "unprecedented" method of judging which households are eligible for the payment will be implemented, Yasutoshi Nishimura, minister in charge of economic and fiscal policy, said.

"If we set an income limit, we would have to check individual incomes, which would take a lot of time. Instead of that, we'll come up with an unprecedented way to judge who should receive cash," Nishimura told a press briefing on the matter.

The handouts would be made to those in need whose lives had become difficult due to income falling as a result of the pandemic. Politicians, corporate executives, among others, whose livelihoods had clearly not been affected by the pandemic, would not qualify for support, he added.