ON MAY 7, 2001, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi delivered a Policy Speech to both Houses of the Diet. In his speech, he stated his resolve to promote structural reform in the economic, fiscal, administrative, social and political fields, saying that these reforms would be worthy of the name "Restoration in a New Century."Referring to the need to work for economic revitalization, Koizumi said: "The prescription has been written and awaits dispensing. My duty in order for us to truly realize a rebirth of the Japanese economy is to move forward decisively and perform my tasks." On the subject of economic and fiscal structural reforms, Koizumi said the government would aim for final disposal of non-performing loans within two to three years. He explained that the government would work in earnest towards fiscal structural reform by first targeting new government bond issues in the fiscal 2002 budget to less than 30 trillion yen. After this the government would seek a sustainable fiscal balance by comprehensively rebuilding fiscal structures, through steps such as setting the goal of not relying on new borrowing for expenditures other that interest payments on past loans.
展开▼
