BOJ Gov. Masaru Hayami said Thursday that Japan should not relax its efforts to promote structural reforms and dispose of banks' nonperforming loans despite the recent economic uptick.
Hayami also said in a speech at a Tokyo hotel that Japanese banks may have to seek further industry realignment as bad loans are likely to continue mounting.
"Japan should not feel at ease about the recent cyclical economic improvement and needs to firmly promote both the disposal of nonperforming loans and economic and industrial reforms, in order to achieve autonomous and sustainable economic growth," Hayami told a forum affiliated with Kyodo News.