Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa on Wednesday played down the eroding enthusiasm within the private sector toward a debt-for-equity scheme that would help industries out from under mountains of debt.
In a regular news conference, Miyazawa said the idea of corporations disposing excess capacity and debt will remain valid even if debt-equity swaps do not materialize. "I would not care a bit if (businesses) decide they do not need (the scheme) because it is only one of things that the government may have to help with," he said.
Miyazawa stressed that it is firms and their creditor banks, not the government, that should talk with each other and devise a solution.
He made the comments in reference to the recent remarks by Takashi Imai, head of the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren), who expressed caution toward the plan.
In debt-equity swaps, creditor banks would give up claims on troubled loans for newly issued stocks in indebted firms.
Miyazawa is one the most ardent advocates of the plan. He and Kaoru Yosano, the minister for international trade and industry, last week encouraged Imai and Satoru Kishi, head the banking association, to launch a forum to settle the vexing issue.