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To: Ian@SI who wrote (5197)	6/15/1998 11:17:00 PM
From: pat mudge	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 18016

Japan asks for help: <<<< TUESDAY JUNE 16 1998ÿÿAsia-Pacificÿ Japan seeks help for yen By Gillian Tett in Tokyo Japan has appealed for concerted global intervention to support the yen, which on Monday weakened against the dollar to an eight-year low of 146.2. Koji Tanami, vice-finance minister, said: "We need to take decisive action against an excessive weakening of the yen in co-operation with other nations." His comments reflect increasing irritation in Tokyo over Washington's apparent reluctance to halt the slide in the yen. Last week Robert Rubin, US Treasury secretary, said intervention would only be a "temporary tool" to boost the yen and that the currency's weakness could only be remedied by stimulating Japan's economy. The slump in the yen is provoking criticism from other Asian leaders angry with Japan's failure to announce new measures to tackle the crisis. Singaporean officials on Monday met Taku Yamasaki, policy chief of the ruling Liberal Democratic party, to express their unease. The Chinese media have also called for decisive action. In Hong Kong, market interest rates surged on Monday, driving the stock market down almost 6 per cent to a three-year low, as the falling yen fuelled fears for the territory's exchange rate peg to the US dollar. Meanwhile, European Union leaders expressed concern about the state of the Japanese economy. Tony Blair, UK prime minister, opened yesterday's summit of EU leaders in Cardiff, Wales, with a warning that the Asian crisis was the greatest threat to the world economy in 20 years. Mr Blair said: "Our economies will not emerge from this turmoil without being affected by it, and we have to decide how to react." Japan faces parliamentary elections next month and the likelihood of action seems remote before the poll on July 12. The decline yesterday was partly triggered by Moody's, the US credit rating agency, downgrading some of Japan's large construction companies to junk bond status, indicating they could pose a bankruptcy risk. The yen was also weakened by worse-than-expected data on gross domestic product, published Friday. Sentiment was also undermined by news that the government's Economic Planning Agency had revised the April industrial production data down from a monthly decline of 1.1 per cent to 1.6 per cent. The government was yesterday given some comfort after figures showed that the politically controversial current account surplus grew to 1,170bn ($8.4bn) in April, only 10.3 per cent higher than in April 1997, a slower rise than many economists had expected. This largely reflected the impact of slower exports to Asia and rising import prices. Meanwhile, data from Teikoku, a research group, show the value of bankruptcies in May surged by an annual growth rate of 55.5 per cent, the worst figure for May since the second world war. >>>