Reflecting the poor business sentiment shown by the Bank of Japan's latest "tankan" survey, business leaders Thursday criticized the government for its vague economic measures.
"We are not sure exactly how the government will spend the previously announced 16 trillion yen package, and the government needs to disclose what measures it will take as early as possible," said Kosaku Inaba, head of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
He stressed it is necessary to increase loans from the government-affiliated financial institutions, such as the Small Business Finance Corporation and the Central Bank for Commercial and Industrial Cooperatives. The JCCI will urge the Liberal Democratic Party today to increase the capital of those financial institutions by injecting public money so they can expand lending to private firms.