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To: Bobby Yellin who wrote (25238)	1/1/1999 8:46:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Respond to of 116896

apan's Obuchi sees positive growth in fiscal '99 03:02 p.m Dec 31, 1998 Eastern TOKYO, Jan 1 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi said he was confident Japan would see a return to positive growth in fiscal 1999. In comments made on Wednesday and embargoed until Friday, Obuchi told reporters: ''I firmly believe in distinct positive growth in the 1999 fiscal year.'' He said the government would make all necessary efforts to achieve its economic growth target of 0.5 percent in fiscal 1999, starting in April, including a new economic plan. He gave no further details. Obuchi said his 1998 visits to a number of countries, including the United States, Russia and Vietnam, where he attended a meeting of leaders of the Association of South East Asian Nations, had re-emphasised to him the strong expectations the world has of Japan. ''Our economic revival is very important to the world as a whole, particularly Asia,'' he said. ''And as economic interdependence continues to increase, the impact (of Japan's economy) will be huge.'' Major themes for the government to work on in 1999 include restoring health in the financial system, currently groaning under a mountain of bad debt, as well as reviving industrial production, he said. Noting that slowness in dealing with bad debt disposal following the collapse of the ''bubble'' economy was a major contributor to Japan's current poor economic situation, he said injection of public funds would continue to play a role in restoring the soundness of the financial system. He added that tax cuts for the January-March 1999 period were likely to show up in June salary payments. On the key question of the U.S. trade deficit with Japan, Obuchi acknowledged the deficit was ''large'' but said this was due, in part, to strong demand by consumers in the United States for imported Japanese products. ''In any event, it is essential to make efforts so this issue does not become a political problem,'' he said. On the January 1 debut of the Euro, Obuchi said he felt that while the dollar would certainly remain the dominant key currency, international use of the yen was extremely important for world financial markets. Obuchi's comments came barely a week after the government released doleful economic data that included unemployment figures at 4.4 percent, the worst in 46 years and the same as the U.S. jobless rate. Touching on this, Obuchi said poor employment put the economy under additional downward pressure by dampening consumption. He pledged to ''exert every possible effort'' to increase employment opportunities. Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.