Following is the gist of remarks made by Mr. Takashi Imai, Chairman, Keidanren, on the end-of-year press conference on 25 December 2000. Translation is rush and tentative, and sequence of the gist does not necessarily coincide with words delivered.
I still think that the target GDP figures are still attainable even though the fear on economic downturn is increasing and the government alters its statistics frequently.
(Asked when to start fiscal restructuring)
The fiscal 2001 budget is very neutral. We have to see Japanese economy in the second half of the fiscal 2001. If we will observe enough growth in this period, we could start restructuring from social security areas. The fiscal 2001 budget is 11 trillion yen off the primary balance. We need to reduce this as the first step toward the far-reaching goal.
The Japanese stocks' prices are linked with the U. S. As NASDAQ price fell to below the half of the highest, Japanese stocks especially IT also fell. The trend is same everywhere, like Korea and Taiwan, also saw downturn of more than 30%. Making problem worse, Japanese companies are required to sell cross holding shares due to change in rules. This makes it too easy to buy Japanese companies. In the U. S. the system of "treasury stock" (self-holding of own shares) is efficiently utilized to block excessively easy M & As. Meanwhile, in Japan, such is not permitted, and we are trying hard to make it possible. As soon as we draw our proposals, we may present it to concerned government authorities.
Ministry of International Trade and Industry will be restructured into the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. I hope the new Ministry will take advantage of the name Economy by drawing and implementing macro economic policies to push economic restructuring.
(Being asked three largest economic news in the year 2000)
The first is that now we are finally certain that economic recovery is a reality. The second is that to keep Japanese companies globally competitive, Keidanren was successful in pushing changes in the legal framework. For example, revision of laws governing corporate restructuring, including tax code, will be completed by the end of fiscal 2000. We are also almost certain that consolidated taxation system will be introduced by fiscal 2002. The third is the restructuring of business organizations. As you know, Keidanren and Nikkeiren will be integrated. This will pull the triggers of restructuring of many business organizations. All three combined, restructured government, corporations, and business organizations, could work together for the better Japanese economy.