Provisional translation

Press Conference by Shoichi Nakagawa, Minister of Finance and Minister for Financial Services

(Excerpt)

November 4, 2008

[Opening Remarks by Minister Nakagawa]

I did not report any particular matter at today’s cabinet meeting. At an informal meeting of cabinet ministers, the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry reported on the credit guarantee scheme that started on October 30, saying that there are very high hopes for the scheme as shown by the large number of inquiries and the large number and value of credit insurance provisions granted per day.

[Questions and Answers]

Q.

I would like to ask you about a financial summit to be held in Washington this month. There was a media report that the Japanese government is planning to propose to host a second such summit. Are you really planning to host it? Do you intend to promote such a proposal?

A.

For the coming G-20 meeting in Washington, the Prime Minister has exerted his leadership and played a very active role. I believe that this will be a very important meeting. While I understand that Prime Minister Aso has his own ideas, I, for my part, am considering what we can do and should do in order to enable him to exert his initiative actively at the Washington meeting, but I am not thinking of what to do beyond that. If necessary, I am ready to consider what to do under the Prime Minister’s instruction. However, for the moment, I have no particular idea of what to do after the Washington meeting.

Q.

I have the impression that the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) has become more confrontational than before in Diet deliberations on the bill for revising the Act on Special Measures for Strengthening Financial Functions. How do you think the deliberations should be conducted?

A.

Judging from the contents of the debate at the House of Representatives’ Financial Affairs Committee, I do not think that the DPJ has become more confrontational. Still, I suppose that senior members of the committee and other lawmakers involved in the management of Diet affairs are having a hard time. In any case, I think that we should act quickly to facilitate loans to small- and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) through the injection of capital into sound banks. Through my involvement in the deliberations on this bill, I feel that like the credit insurance scheme that I spoke of earlier, it is raising high hopes among SMEs. So, I have adopted good ideas proposed at the committee, including ones proposed by opposition parties, and issued instructions to the FSA and other relevant organizations. As I do not believe that there is a confrontation over this bill, I am ready to adopt good proposals, from both the ruling and opposition parties in order to draft a better bill, although I think that we must prevent the deliberations from dragging on. I strongly hope that lawmakers’ hard work will quickly lead to a drafting of the final bill and its enactment so that we can take action at an early date.

(End)