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.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique