Financial Services Minister Hakuo Yanagisawa on Monday brushed aside growing calls to form a third-party committee to help banks dispose of bad loans and companies to deal with excessive debt.
At a speech in Tokyo, Yanagisawa said banks and borrowers should resolve their nonperforming loans according to market forces.
Ruling coalition lawmakers and business leaders have been pressuring the government to set up a special third-party committee under the Financial Services Agency to judge the propriety of debt waivers and other measures related to the liquidation of nonperforming loans.
"I have to admit that developments on bad-loan disposal have been slow, but nobody has a godlike ability to decide which companies should survive and which should die," he said.
He also said he expects regional banks to take special circumstances into account when promoting bad-loan disposal, due to their close ties with smaller companies.
Timetable set for extra budget, reform details
The government plans to submit a supplementary budget for the current fiscal year to the Diet in mid-November, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kosei Ueno said Monday.
Ueno said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda informed top government and ruling coalition officials of the schedule in a meeting at the Prime Minister's Official Residence.
The basic framework of the budget will be decided in late October, Ueno said.
He also said a timetable for the prime minister's reform agenda will be announced Sept. 26, along with an interim report on project priority.