The government will take every possible measure to stabilize the nation's financial system and restore the economy to a healthy state, Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto vowed during a news conference marking New Year's Day.
"The government will never allow either a financial crisis or an economic crisis to start in Japan (and spread to other countries)," Hashimoto stressed at the Official Residence. "We are firmly resolved to recover national confidence in the economy by putting business conditions back on a recovery track and stabilizing the financial system, which constitutes the artery of the economy," he said.
Hashimoto urged the public to have confidence in the nation's financial system, which has the world's largest foreign currency reserves and handles 1.2 quadrillion yen worth of personal savings and deposits. "There is absolutely nothing to worry about," Hashimoto said, referring to a series of crisis measures he adopted last month to deal with the lingering financial uncertainty.