Bank of Japan governor Toshihiko Fukui pledged to work with the government to rebuild a financial system that he said was in a "severe state" because of bad loans and plunging stock prices.
"We would like to work with the government, and as the central bank we will implement steps to stabilize the country's financial system," Fukui said in a speech to the bank's branch managers.
He said the bank would spell out details of a plan to buy corporate debt ``as soon as possible.''
The central bank this month said it might buy asset-backed securities to give companies an alternative source of financing to bank lending, which has fallen for six years as banks struggle to write off bad loans estimated at ¥52.4 trillion (US$438 billion).
Fukui, who was inaugurated on March 20, is looking for new ways to pull Japan out of a 12-year slump. His predecessor, Masaru Hayami, cut interest rates almost to zero in March 2001 and tripled purchases of bonds from banks to Y1.2 trillion a month.
Such steps haven't reversed a five-year drop in consumer prices that has sapped corporate profits and inflated the value of debt. Nor have they kept share prices from plunging. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 28 percent in the fiscal year to March 31, inflicting losses on banks such as Mizuho Financial Group Inc.
Politicians are pressing Fukui to do more. Last week, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's economic panel urged the bank to prop up share prices by financing a private agency that would buy stock. It also asked the bank to buy real-estate investment trusts and exchange-traded funds.
The state of the world's second-largest largest economy is "flat in general," Fukui said. The bank sees "strong uncertainty" about the overseas economy and the effects of the Iraq war.
Financial markets have been stable even after the March 31 fiscal year-end, when banks had to account for losses on investments, because the central bank has taken steps to provide liquidity, he said.
Heads of the central bank's 32 branches nationwide and offices in London, New York and Hong Kong are meeting in Tokyo to report on their regional economies.
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
RELEASED: Ko emerged from a courthouse before about 700 supporters, describing his year in custody as a period of ‘suffering’ and vowed to ‘not surrender’ Former Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released on NT$70 million (US$2.29 million) bail yesterday, bringing an end to his year-long incommunicado detention as he awaits trial on corruption charges. Under the conditions set by the Taipei District Court on Friday, Ko must remain at a registered address, wear a GPS-enabled ankle monitor and is prohibited from leaving the country. He is also barred from contacting codefendants or witnesses. After Ko’s wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), posted bail, Ko was transported from the Taipei Detention Center to the Taipei District Court at 12:20pm, where he was fitted with the tracking
RSS