Provisional Translation

Q.

There has been a series of calls from the government and the ruling party for further supplemental economic measures as well as large-scale measures. At the present point, what are your thoughts on supplemental measures?

A.

I am aware that there have been various calls. Discussions are ongoing on this topic within the ruling party. Regarding the impact of the disease on the economy and business conditions, the downside risks from overseas are another concern. To overcome this, we plan to quickly carry out the 26 trillion yen comprehensive economic stimulus package that was just put forth, as it hasn’t even been started yet. At the same time, the second round of emergency measures has just been considering. Basically, the focus here is on the two points of maintaining employment and business continuity. The worsening of business indices is not a concern. This is an external factor, and in that sense differs completely from Lehman Shock. This funding is intended for the continuation of businesses whose customers stopped coming due to a sudden, unexpected, external factor. If you were to apply the economic principle of stock and flow, this is a countermeasure against a sudden change in the flow. We are sending requests to banks, and the Bankers Association is sending requests to banks under their umbrella, and we will continue to do so. I believe that at this moment we must respond thoroughly. Large companies have reserves and are capable of handling various things, but micro, small and medium sized enterprises are expected to face difficulties with funding. That’s why we’re asking for thorough response from regional banks, credit associations, credit cooperatives, second-tier regional bank and similar institutions.