Nobuteru Ishihara, state minister in charge of administrative reform, told business leaders Wednesday he wants to reach a conclusion on the reform of government-backed financial institutions as quickly as possible.
"We hope to reach a conclusion by the end of the year, at the earliest possible date," an official of the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren) quoted Ishihara as saying. Ishihara was speaking in a meeting of the group's administrative reform committee at a hotel in Tokyo.
Reforming government-backed lenders such as National Life Finance Corp. is one element of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's structural reform initiative, which faces fierce opposition from some lawmakers in his ruling Liberal Democratic Party.