JAPANESE GROUPS URGE DRASTIC ECONOMIC PACKAGE
Japan's leading economic organisations
urged the Government to prepare drastic pump-priming measures
even at the cost of shelving Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone's
planned tax reforms, officials involved said.
    Officials of the Federation of Economic Organisations
(Keidanren) said in a meeting with government officials the
Government should issue construction bonds as an emergency
measure to prop up the economy.
    Keidanren suggested that proceeds from sales of stocks in
the newly-privatised Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp should
also be used to stimulate the economy.
    Keidanren Chairman Eishiro Saito said the dollar's fall
below 150 yen would create huge unemployment and bankruptcies
that could shake the foundation of the Japanese economy.
    The Keidanren meeting coincided with a written request for
drastic reflationary measures sent to the Government by the
Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
    Both organisations called for stepped-up Bank of Japan
intervention to stabilise exchange rates.
    Chamber head Noboru Gotoh told a press conference the
awaited economic package should be powerful enough to push up
Japan's Gross National Product (GNP) by about two pct.
    Gotoh said the Government could cope with the present
critical economic condition even if it put off its plan to stop
the issue of deficit-covering bonds by fiscal 1990.
    The plan to reduce the fiscal budget is a pillar of
Nakasone's fiscal reconstruction program.
  REUTER
