Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto appealed Friday for increased efforts to resolve financial institutions' bad loan problems as soon as possible to facilitate economic recovery.
Speaking at the first meeting of a government and ruling bloc task force on the problem, Hashimoto said a comprehensive program is required to promote disclosure of financial institutions' bad loans and make use of real estate put up as collateral for the loans. "Given the present state of the economy, no time can be wasted in resolving the bad loan problem," he said.
The task force aims to lay out specific measures to promote disposal of nonperforming loans, a result of the burst of the economic bubble and a primary cause of the prolonged economic slump. This initiative follows a pledge made by Hashimoto at the recent summit meeting of the Group of Eight industrialized countries in Birmingham, England.