The government is considering funneling public funds into nonfinancial firms being battered by the global economic slowdown to provide some sort of safety net, sources familiar with the matter said Saturday.
Under the program, the government-backed Development Bank of Japan will buy preferred stock issued by companies whose earnings are deteriorating, using several hundred billions of yen in government funds to be secured in fiscal 2009, the sources said.
The emergency measure, aimed at dealing with the global financial crisis, would last through March 2010, they said.