Japan to raise fund injection to $110b

Afp, Tokyo
Japan plans to sharply increase the ceiling on public funds that can be injected into ailing banks from two to 10 trillion yen (110 billion dollars), economic and fiscal policy minister Kaoru Yosano said Sunday.Prime Minister Taro Aso's cabinet is expected to announce an outline of the fresh package, part of emergency measures to stabilise the nation's financial markets, as early as later Sunday.The existing maximum of two trillion yen for the bank recapitalisation is "quite insufficient," Yosano said in a television interview."I think it's going to be around 10 trillion yen," he added.But Yosano insisted Japan was less affected by the global financial crisis than other big economies, adding: "We are absolutely not in a situation where we will see Japanese banks collapse one after another."The fresh package of measures is also expected to allow the government-run Banks' Shareholdings Purchase Corp. to resume buying stocks unloaded by banks in a bid to support ailing managements, media reports said.
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