Tsutomu Takebe, secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said Saturday the Japan Bank for International Cooperation must be abolished under a planned reconfiguration of eight government-backed financial institutions.
Appearing in a television program, Takebe said the JBIC's functions of providing yen-denominated loans should be transferred to the Japan International Cooperation Agency, a government arm for offering technical assistance to developing countries.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has repeatedly called for integrating the eight institutions into one entity while abolishing and privatizing some of them.
But New Komeito, the LDP's coalition partner, wants to let the JBIC survive and maintain its yen-loan operations, and is seeking to resolve differences with the LDP by the end of the month.
After a set of bills to privatize Japan Post passed the Diet in October, the overhaul of governmental lenders has emerged as the new focus in Koizumi's reform initiative.
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