October 23, 2002	Wednesday	Sha’aban 16,1423

TOKYO, Oct 22: Japan has postponed until Friday an interim report on ways to accelerate the clean-up of bad loans at Japanese banks, amid stiff resistance from ruling-party lawmakers and sickly financial institutions.

The report, originally set to be released on Tuesday by Financial Services Minister Heizo Takenaka, will be published in a final form on Friday, Taku Yamasaki, secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), said.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is due to unveil new economy-boosting measures on the same day.

“I have consulted many people on their opinions,” Takenaka, who is also in charge of economic and fiscal policy, said after rounds of talks with Koizumi and other economic ministers as well as LDP leaders.

“Basically, it was agreed that we’d better establish related safety nets and announce measures for the benefit of medium- and small-sized companies at the same time as the report,” he told reporters.—AFP