Rise in unemployment is natural: Finance minister

Finance Minister Miyazawa Kiichi was candid by stating that there is no doubt that more workers will be displaced as a result of the emergency economic measures which the government recently decided upon.

Miyazawa made the remark during a House of Councilors committee meeting on April 10 in answer to a question made by Japanese Communist Party House of Councilors member Daimon Mikishi regarding the recent government emergency economic measures.

Referring to a government official who said that the number of workers who involuntarily lost jobs as a result of the write-off of non-performing loans amounting to 45 trillion yen was estimated at 500,000, Daimon asked what the government prediction is of the number of workers who would be displaced if the new economic package is implemented.

In response, a government official said, "We have not made such a calculation." The Finance Minister also said that disposal of bad loans usually entails a rise in the number of the unemployed.

Daimon said that no country in the world has ever had such an economic policy knowing that it would result in an increase in unemployment. "It only helps postpone Japan's economic recovery." (end)