Japan Press Weekly

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2020 April 1 - 7 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

JCP Daimon: Japan should not provide additional funding to int’l finance corp.

Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Daimon Mikishi on March 31 at a Diet committee meeting said that the government should not provide more funding to the International Finance Corporation (IFC), citing several controversial projects financed by the organization.

The IFC is an affiliate of the World Bank and supports developing countries by offering loans and funds to private companies there.

In the House of Councilors Financial Affairs Committee meeting, Daimon opposed a bill to offer additional funding to the IFC and pointed out that projects financially backed by the IFC include highly contentious ones, such as the Marikana mine project in South Africa where 34 workers were shot to death by police after taking action to demand a pay hike.

Daimon also criticized the government for being reluctant to provide information about the IFC to examine the bill in the committee.

In response, Finance Minister Aso Taro said that Japan will scrutinize the IFC activities closely in meetings of the IFC boards of governors and directors.

Later on the day, the bill was passed and enacted in the House of Councilors plenary meeting with a majority vote of the ruling block. The JCP voted against the bill.