October 23, 2002	Wednesday	Sha’aban 16,1423

TOKYO, Oct 22: Talks between Washington and Tokyo should help improve Japanese monetary and banking policy, a top US official said on Tuesday as he urged Japan to halt deflation and erase bad loans from banks.

Japan’s economy could once again grow at an annual rate of four percent, last seen in the 1980s, if the government employed the correct reform measures, said US Treasury Under Secretary for International Affairs John Taylor.—AFP