Staff writer
The government must be able to act quickly based on real-time economic data to cope with mounting problems plaguing the nation's economy, said Hirotaro Higuchi, chairman of the Strategic Economic Council, a special advisory panel to Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi.
Higuchi, chairman of Asahi Breweries, also renewed his pledge to draw up a final report by the end of December, noting that markets would not wait too long. "We will do it by the end of December," he said in an interview. "You can just take a look at what's happening in Russia to see why we cannot take too much time." He also noted that the government's 16.65 trillion yen economic stimulus package, announced in April, will begin to take effect around mid-September. "We're hoping to put forward our complete proposal while those stimulative measures are still working," he said.