To: MikeM54321 who wrote (4122 ) 6/2/1998 6:57:00 PM From: Joseph Beltran Read Replies (2) | Respond to
Mike, the author of the article makes a good point- focusing on getting Japan on track should be priority #1. That having been said, however, I just don't know what role the IMF can play with respect to the japanese situation. Japan is not a country which needs IMF financing. what it needs is to make (and more importantly implement) the tough decisions which it has refused to make over the past 8 years: (1) deregulate their markets and permit foreign companies to come in and do business without creating big obstacles; (2) overhaul their banking and financial sectors by letting the most troubled banks go belly up, encouraging the stronger banks to buy out marginal ones, writing off the bad loans, and bringing bank asset values in line with market values; and (3) bring transparency (a la western style) to their entire banking and financial sectors. god only knows what the "real" books of these banks look like, but the longer they let this problem go on, the worse off it will be.
