TOKYO, Dec 24 - Taro Aso, Japan’s prime minister, tried to put a rocket under the stricken economy on Wednesday, announcing the country’s biggest ever annual budget, as fear mounts that Japan faces a long recession.

However, the fate of the budget is clouded by Mr Aso’s sinking public support rates and weakening control over his Liberal Democratic Party, which analysts say is at risk of losing a lower house election that must be held by next September.