The government will meet next week with government-related and private-sector financial institutions to ensure that adequate funds for the end of the fiscal year are available for small and medium-size companies, Financial Services Minister Hakuo Yanagisawa said Tuesday.
Yanagisawa said the government will ask the banks to cooperate in providing sufficient funds for such firms.
He said he will explain his plan, which promotes the writing off of bad loans held by banks, if banking officials decide to raise the issue.
Yanagisawa has said that the government will work out a scheme by the end of March to help banks unload problem loans from their balance sheets, rather than simply setting aside reserves against possible bad loans.