 Privatized postal savings will fall into a deficit of 60 billion yen: JCP At the House of Representatives special committee meeting discussing the bills related to the privatization of postal services, Japanese Communist Party representative Sasaki Kensho on June 6 pointed out that postal savings (one of the three major postal services), if privatized, will run a deficit of 60 billion yen, and that if Japan Post remains a public corporation, it will produce a surplus of 130 billion yen. Sasaki quoted these figures from government estimates of a savings bank in FY 2016 when privatization is to be completed. Takenaka Heizo, minister in charge of postal privatization, insisted that it will be possible for the privatized savings bank to make profits from a new business. Refuting Takenaka, Sasaki said, "It is next to impossible for a new business to produce profit. If it shows a loss, there will be no tax revenue. If the present public corporate management is maintained, 69.2 billion yen in profit will be produced even after a 50 percent levy is paid to the State Treasury." Sasaki asked, "What is the need for privatization at the risk of running a deficit?" No clear answer came from the government. * * * JCP Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi at a news conference on the same day criticized the ruling Liberal Democratic and Komei parties for hastening to schedule public hearings on the privatization bills. Ichida said that thorough discussion is what the bills need, all the more so as the government insists that the bills are important. - Akahata, June 7, 2005 |