Press Conference by Taro Aso, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and Minister for Financial Services

(Excerpt)

(Friday, January 11, 2013, from 11:52 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.)

[Questions and Answers]

Q.

The other day, a media report said that the calculation method of the standard yield rate will be revised so that life insurance companies can lower their insurance premium rates. I suppose that this will create problems such as the possibility that life insurance companies’ business risks may increase. Is the media report accurate?

A.

At least, it is not true that the standard yield rate will be revised.

Q.

Regarding the expiry of the SME (Small and Medium-size Enterprises) Financing Facilitation Act, Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corporation of Japan will be reorganized as a “regional economy revitalization support organization” under the latest emergency economic package. Could you explain the purpose of the reorganization? I have one more question related to the SME Financing Facilitation Act. The New Komeito is calling for another extension of this law, and although you have denied the possibility of another extension, I suppose that you cannot ignore the coalition partner’s opinion. Could you tell me how you will deal with this matter?

A.

We will not extend the law again, as I have repeatedly stated. However, there are some companies which are close to attaining turnaround, so we will consider using various services such as consulting and various people such as certified SME advisors so that we can deal with those companies on a case by-case basis. Regarding regional revitalization, there is no doubt that the situation varies widely from region to region. In that sense, we must properly grasp the situation region by region. There is no doubt that there are significant differences between regions where the economic condition is good and regions where it is not good and between regions where jobs are increasing and regions where they are not increasing, as Japan is geographically long from north to south, and we do not desire further concentration of population in cities. In that sense, unless we look at the situation region by region, we can’t find out what should be done to revitalize regional economies, so we worked out the reorganization plan.

(End)