Looking for Huge Rug!!!!
Tokyo Not Ready to Accept IMF Audit Tokyo Not Ready to Accept IMF Audit of Banks TOKYO (AP) -- International pressure is heating up on Japan to accept an investigation on the bad loans plaguing its banks, as worries grow about the impact of this nation's economic health on the global economy. International Monetary Fund officials said Friday that Tokyo has agreed in principle to an IMF investigation of Japanese banks but has repeatedly refused to do it. Hakuo Yanagisawa, Japan's finance minister, is scheduled to meet with IMF Managing Director Horst Koehler during his visit to the United States next week. Japan's troubled banks are expected to be among their topics of discussion. At the center of the controversy is the size of the bad loans, which private analysts say is much higher than the 43 trillion yen ($362 billion) assessed by the Japanese government. Yanagisawa reiterated Friday that Japan cannot accept an IMF audit now. ``Realistically, that would require perfect preparation. Under the current staffing situation, it would be difficult,'' he told reporters. ``I've asked them to wait a bit more.'' The IMF investigation -- called the Financial Sector Assessment Program -- applies to all 183 IMF members. Thirteen nations, including Canada, Great Britain and India, have completed the investigations. ``Japanese authorities have not agreed on going ahead with the implementation of FSA at this stage,'' said Kunio Saito, director of the IMF's Asia and Pacific office. The Japanese government has promised to clean up the debts at the banks, blamed for a stagnant economy that has not revived for a decade. Progress has been slow. The Tokyo stock market has plunged to a 17-year low, the unemployment rate is at a record high since such statistics started in the 1950s and dangers of deflation are looming. Deflation can be severely damaging because corporate profits and people's earnings drop along with prices. |
