TOKYO, Oct 21: Top Japanese and US finance officials on Monday discussed issues affecting the world’s two largest economies ahead of key policy announcements by Japan later in the week.

Investors had been waiting to hear the outcome of the talks between US Undersecretary John Taylor and Japanese vice finance minister for international affairs Haruhiko Kuroda but officials offered no new leads.

The two sides discussed macro-economy and fiscal policy matters in the morning, followed by policies related to the financial sector in the afternoon, said a finance ministry official.

We also discussed briefly about aid to Afghanistan and (cutting) funds to terrorists, he told reporters after the Japan-US financial dialogue.

The Japanese side told their US counterparts about a special taskforce established by newly-appointed Financial Services Minister Heizo Takenaka to consider accelerated disposals of non-performing loans at Japanese banks. However we didn’t reveal what has been discussed in detail, said the official, adding the US side asked no questions.

An eagerly awaited interim report into the team’s findings is due to be released as early as Tuesday.—AFP