The ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s panel on administrative reform on July 7 again postponed the announcement of its reform package for governmental financial institutions, citing time-consuming negotiations with ministries and agencies.
Koko Sato, head of the panel, told reporters the announcement will be made July 11 rather than July 8. Postponements have been made a number of times since early May, when the panel originally planned to finalize the reform package. There has been strong opposition from inside the LDP and from the ministries.
Meanwhile, nine committees of the LDP’s policy research council earlier in the day jointly adopted a resolution calling for more discussions on the planned streamlining of government-affiliated financial corporations. The resolution said that even after planned abolition of Japan Development Bank in 1999, large corporations in major industries, including electric power and airlines, should remain eligible to borrow money from governmental financial corporations.
The abolition of JDB is intended to rectify its bloated tasks, which include extending loans to big businesses that are considered financially strong enough to borrow from private institutions at higher interest.
