| An emergency economic package was adopted at a joint meeting at the Prime Minister's Official Residence of the Ministerial Meeting on Economic Measures and the Government and Ruling Parties Emergency Economic Package Headquarters. Addressing the meeting, Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori said, "The shift to a full-fledged economic recovery centered on private-sector demand is lagging, as seen in signs that business improvement is stalling. Underlying the fragility indicated by such economic trends are structural problems in the Japanese economy. Fundamental resolution of these problems is an urgent priority."
The Prime Minister went on to enumerate the major features of the emergency economic package: (1) working toward integrated resolution of the problems of financial institutions' non-performing loans and excessive debt of corporations by means of such measures as setting a specific time frame for the removal of non-performing loans from banks' balance sheets, (2) heightening confidence in the stability of the financial system by setting a limitation on shareholdings of banks and creating a scheme for the temporary purchase of shares to prevent the stock market's being disrupted by banks releasing shares, (3) undertaking structural reform in the securities market, (4) undertaking urban revitalization by establishing a Headquarters for the Rejuvenation of Cities (provisional name) to oversee a project to create a wide urban area with recycling capabilities and other urban revitalization projects suited to the twenty-first century, and (5) creating job opportunities and enhancing the safety net to cope flexibly and appropriately with changes in employment situation accompanying structural reform. "I believe that we will be able to lay the foundation for future economic growth through the steady implementation of such measures," the Prime Minister added, and instructed the ministers concerned to address themselves energetically to ensuring that the effects of the measures would be seen both steadily and swiftly. |