U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill urged Japanese Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa on Friday to carry out new measures to boost Japan's fragile economic upswing. He also welcomed the bottoming out of the world's second-largest economy, a senior Japanese official said.
In a meeting held in this seaside city, O'Neill dismissed emerging doubts about the strength of U.S. economic recovery. He said that the country's productivity remains high and profits should improve in the future, the official told reporters.
Shiokawa and O'Neill did not discuss the foreign-exchange market or monetary policy in their talks held shortly before the start of the two-day meeting of the Group of Seven (G7) finance ministers, the official said.
Shiokawa told O'Neill that Japan believes its economy has bottomed out — a declaration made in a government report in May. He also briefed O'Neill on the Japanese government's efforts to boost the economy through as tax reform and deregulation.