Press Conference by the Minister for Financial Services

(Excerpt)

March 18 , 2003

The Prime Minister delivered a statement in the ministerial meeting. I believe that the Chief Cabinet Secretary will later give a detailed report, but to summarize it, he stated that Japan needs to eye the realization of military actions and be fully prepared to respond to such a situation.

In particular, the Prime Minister directed us by saying, ''We shouldn't let this issue, the new situation surrounding Iraq, cause confusion in the economy in and outside of Japan and raise anxiety among the Japanese people. I expect the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Minister of Financial Services, Economic and Fiscal Policy to ensure, under close contact with the relevant authorities including the Bank of Japan, full preparations so that nothing unexpected should occur, while continuing the adequate monitoring of the trends of the economy and financial markets, such as foreign exchange, crude oil and stocks.''

With respect to stock markets, we developed and just announced last Thursday, as you know, the measures for stock markets that consist of six items including the 'rigorous market surveillance' and 'ensuring proper price formation' for the purpose of ensuring proper operations of stock markets in consideration of the recent environment that is losing stability due to the increasingly serious situation surrounding Iraq etc. As I've been explaining up to now, these were developed as immediate measures to apply for the time being.

Going by the direction given by the Prime Minister today, the Financial Services Agency is committed to taking proper measures in response to the ever-changing surroundings by keeping in contact with the Bank of Japan and stock exchanges etc., while continuing to monitor market trends closely.

In the light of the worldwide trend of dropping stock prices, we are also intent on taking every possible measure in cooperation with other countries so as not to cause confusion in the financial system and markets, while making close contact, as things come up, with authorities in other countries that are responsible for financial markets.