The government may become the lender of last resort for large companies struggling to obtain financing as the economy worsens and the corporate bond market remains weak.
Bigger firms are increasingly approaching the state-controlled Development Bank of Japan for loans, Masanori Yanagi, the bank's managing executive officer, said in an interview. The DBJ will turn to the state for funds as lending may exceed its forecast by at least ¥500 billion.
"Our investment and lending plan, almost all of which is loans, was ¥1.5 trillion this fiscal year, but now loan requests are running at about ¥2.2 trillion and rising," Yanagi, 58, said Tuesday. "We'd like to lend at least ¥2 trillion."