The priority for Japan's economy after the devastating earthquake and tsunami was reconstruction and to get economy going, International Monetary Fund (IMF) officials said on Thursday.

"Right now the priority for Japan is to provide humanitarian needs and get the economy going again," said Mahmood Pradhan, IMF's Japan Mission Chief.

Pradhan said at a Thursday IMF media roundtable meeting that with regard to fiscal risk, it was far more important for Japan to revive growth at the current stage.

He contended that Japan had a "relatively ample pool" of financial resources to support the reconstruction efforts, adding that the broad response of the Japanese government to tackle the impact of the disaster was "decisive and swift".

In total, 40 trillion yen (about 494 billion U.S. dollars) of funds have been pumped into market by the Japanese central bank as of Tuesday since the earthquake.

Strong efforts taken by the Japanese authorities had successfully "stabilized the financial market", said Pradhan, also Senior Advisor for IMF's Asia Pacific Department.

The economic cost of this quake and tsunami would be " significantly larger" than that of Kobe earthquake in 1995, said Kenneth Kang, Division Chief of IMF's Asia Pacific Department overseeing Japanese issues.

The Japanese government recently projected that the economic cost of the March 11 earthquake and ensuing tsunami on the seven most affected prefectures in the northeast of Japan could total up to 309 billion U.S. dollars.

Kang cited the figures from the Japanese authorities saying the economic cost of this quake and tsunami might amount to 3 to 5 percent of Japan's GDP, twice as big as that caused by Kobe quake, adding that this figure did not take into account of possible affects from power shortage or risks from the nuclear situation.

The uncertainty from the nuclear situation and power interruptions could weigh on the recovery by disrupting the production across the country and by affecting corporate and household sentiment, Kang added.

Pradhan also held that the disruption of power and how long that situation would last in Japan was another source of uncertainty in assessing the economic impact of the deadly quake and tsunami.

Kang noted that in spite of the damage caused by the disaster, the economic costs in the world's third largest economy were "manageable".

In response to questions from Xinhua, Kang said that the Japanese government had around 1.3 trillion yen emergency funding available right now to shore up the recovery, but how quickly that could help lift the economic activity would to a large extent depend on factors including power interruptions and other uncertainties.

Kang believed that any prolonged disruption of Japanese manufacturing activity would affect the region supply chain due to ripple effects.

But Kang added that at this stage, "we don't expect a prolonged disruption, and once the supply chain is restored, production can move again very quickly".

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