Thursday, December 11, 2008

The Prime Minister Attends the Committee on Financial Affairs of the House of Councillors

Prime Minister Taro Aso attended the Committee on Financial Affairs of the House of Councillors and answered closing questions from Committee members on issues including proposed amendments to the Bill to Strengthen Financial Functions.

Asked about assistance measures to ensure that small and medium-sized companies have a steady cash flow, Prime Minister Aso said, "On approval procedures, we asked local public bodies for cooperation in various fields, such as in counter services and publicity for the system. Taking into account the economic conditions of respective regions, the assistance measures must be designed in such a way as to meet the needs of micro-, small and medium-sized companies in each region. The issue requires case-by-case judgments; we must give due consideration to each case when implementing assistance measures in order to ensure that small and medium-sized companies have a steady cash flow."