The government will work out a "concrete scheme" to help debt-ridden firms obtain creditor bank cooperation to dispose of excess capacity accumulated during the bubble economy as part of efforts to regain Japan's industrial competitiveness, trade chief Kaoru Yosano said Tuesday.
Referring to a proposal by Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa during the government's Industrial Competitiveness Council meeting the previous day, the minister of international trade and industry said the debt-equity swap would be a way for the companies to correct their balance sheets with creditors.
"By the end of March, 15 major banks will have gained capital injections to dispose of bad loans. On the part of the companies, however, their balance sheets with the banks have yet to be improved," Yosano told reporters following Tuesday's Cabinet meeting.