In a bid to reinvigorate the nation's fragile rural economies, the government will review legal barriers that prevent the outsourcing of local administrative services to the private sector, economic and fiscal policy minister Heizo Takenaka said Friday.
"I will direct the Cabinet Office to examine as quickly as possible if there are any legally obstructing elements," Takenaka said following a meeting of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, the government's key policy-setting panel.
Takenaka made the remark in response to a proposal issued earlier in the day by private sector council members who said administrative services provided by local governments should be opened up to the private sector.