--Ex-Japan EPA chief Sakaiya sees return to econ growth ahead
--Ex-Japan EPA chief Sakaiya sees 60% of fincl reforms complete
--Ex-Japan EPA chief Sakaiya: Excessive savings must be tackled
--Ex-Japan EPA chief Sakaiya: Govt protection of firms must end
--Ex-Japan EPA chief calls for full competition within 3 yrs
--Japan DJP's Hatoyama: Govt needs to act on reform promise
--Goldman Sachs' Courtis: Japan woes should be a global priority
By Georg Szalai, BridgeNews
Davos, Switzerland --Jan. 26--Taichi Sakaiya, the former director-general of Japan's Economic Planning Agency, predicted Friday that Japan will return to economic growth "before long." Speaking in a panel at the annual World Economic Forum meeting, he also estimated that his country has completed approximately 60% of needed financial reforms. * * * Looking ahead, Sakaiya said that the Japanese culture of excessive savings and the government protection of certain industry sectors, such as the construction sector, must still be tackled. Japan should shift to "complete competition" within three years, according to Sakaiya.
Overall, however, Sakaiya said that a return of economic growth, as well as previous and additional structural reforms should help the troubled Japanese financial system--burdened among other things by a large amount of bad debt--to get back on track.
Yukio Hatoyama, the head of Japan's main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, naturally took a different position on the progress of financial reform, saying that the current government was simply talking about reforms but never delivering. "They can't do the reforms as we have seen over the last several years," he said.
Hatoyama promised to reform the country and create "a new Japan and a new economy," if his party should come to power.
Kenneth Courtis, Goldman Sachs vice chairman for Asia, on Friday also repeated his previous warnings on the current state of the Japanese economy. He described the weak economic growth prospects and the high level of bad debt as a "profound socio-economic, political and financial crisis" with potential implications for other countries around the world. "The situation in Japan should be on top of the agenda for all of us," he said. End Copyright 2001 Bridge Information Systems Inc. All rights reserved.