Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Shoichi Nakagawa voiced caution Friday about the government's plan to abolish full deposit protection at the end of March 2001.
The current economic situation is too severe for the government to be able to decide whether to launch the payoff system as scheduled, he told a regular news conference.
Under the system, deposits of up to 10 million yen per depositor will be protected in case of bank failures.