Small and medium-size companies urged the government Tuesday to accelerate efforts to substantially improve their business conditions, including early compilation of a large-scale third supplementary budget."Small and medium-size companies are facing an unprecedented crisis. We want the government to quickly draw up the supplementary budget, reinforce measures to deal with the smaller firms, implement permanent tax cuts and boost employment," Nobuo Yamaguchi, vice president of the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said during a general meeting between smaller businesses and the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency.Other business representatives expressed concern that the further the government proceeds with stabilization of the financial system in accordance with recent new legislation, the tighter the banks' grips on lending will become.Although the government is taking several measures to help smaller businesses suffering from the banks' credit crunch, Taizo Son, representative director of Indigo Corp., a Tokyo computer system company, pointed out that such support is yet to reach many small business owners. He asked the government to step up efforts to direct its campaign to more small business groups.A subsequent ceremony commemorated the 50th anniversary of the government's establishment of the enterprise agency to promote small and medium-size businesses in the postwar era.
