The Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren) called on the Japanese government to increase the ratio of tied loans in yen loans to Asia as part of proposals on Japan's official development assistance announced Wednesday.
Keidanren officials pointed out that about 90 percent of the current yen loans are untied loans.
Officials of the country's most powerful business organization said tied loans -- loans that require the recipients to use the money to buy Japanese goods or hire Japanese construction companies -- are useful because they allow private companies to contribute their collective knowhow to aid programs.
Keidanren also called for shortening the time currently spent on transactions for yen loans in order to provide timely assistance and more effectively meet the demands of recipient countries.
As a way to provide better assistance, the business group proposed regular meetings between the private sector and the government to convey the private sector's knowledge and experience in such fields as feasibility studies and project planning, gained through long-term operation in those countries.