The Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) generally gave higher grades to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party over the Democratic Party of Japan in an assessment of the two parties' policies and achievements.
The business lobby's report card was released for the first time since Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's LDP scored a landslide victory in the Sept. 11 general election for the House of Representatives and trounced the DPJ.
Nippon Keidanren member firms refer to the grades when they make political donations.
The lobby assigns grades on a scale of A to E in 10 selected policy fields.
Each field is rated in three subcategories -- consistency with policies of the business lobby, efforts in realizing the policies and the actual achievements.
The group last released such an assessment in September 2004.
It upgraded the LDP concerning the results of its social security policy to C from D and downgraded the DPJ's deregulation policy efforts.
It gave the LDP a B grade for its results in six of the 10 policy fields and a C in three of the 10.
Nippon Keidanren upgraded the DPJ's "consistency" one notch in four fields -- tax and fiscal reforms, social security, science and technology, and employment. But it cut the rating one notch for its deregulation and trade policies.