Following is the gist of remarks made by Mr. Takashi Imai, Chairman, Keidanren, at a scheduled press conference following monthly Chairman and Vice Chairmen's meeting on 10 December 2001. Translation is rush and tentative, and sequence of the gist does not necessarily coincide with words delivered.
(Asked on the current state of Japanese economy)
GDP growth for the third quarter 2001 resulted in negative 0.5%, just as bad as I expected. The biggest source of problems is negative 1.7% growth of private consumption. However, the government should continue its restructuring efforts. Given all the circumstances, I foresee negative 0.8% growth for FY 2001. As to the next fiscal year, given the slow pace of facilities investment to continue, I think one should be prepared for another negative growth year.
(Asked on failures in construction and other industries)
Writing off of non-performing loans is an essential process for the recovery of Japanese economy. During this process, those companies that cannot pay back the loan are expected to exit the market. The government has 15 trillion yen reserved for additional capitalization if Japanese financial market is deemed to face another systemic risk. I think that is enough and the government should not hesitate to use the reserves.
(Asked on the surtax issue)
The concept of surtax onto the consolidated tax returns would penalize those companies that would benefit from implementing the new tax scheme. As the government is trying to implement the scheme to improve international competitiveness of corporations, implementing a penalty simply wouldn't make sense.
(Asked on unemployment perspectives)
The government has taken bold steps to help unemployed. The largest portion of the first supplementary budget is allocated for this. As to the discussion of work sharing, I am not supporting the idea at this moment. Of course, if the situations become worse and there will be no other alternatives, I would say yes, but Japan is not as bad.