Coalition sets up talks on yen's redenomination.
TOKYO, Nov. 18 KyodoThe Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its two ruling coalition partners said Thursday they have begun detailed studies of redenominating the Japanese currency in January 2002 to remove two zeros and make 100 of today's yen into 1 yen.
A tripartite project team on the issue, formed Sept. 21, invited officials from the Bank of Japan and the Finance Ministry to a meeting held Thursday morning. Previous meetings of the team had heard the opinions of private-sector experts on the proposal.
Hideyuki Aizawa, former Economic Planning Agency chief and LDP co-chairman of the team, told reporters that he aims to implement the redenomination in January 2002, in line with a proposal made in August by an LDP subcommittee he also chaired.
"We set as a target date of January 2002, when the actual circulation of the euro will start," Aizawa said in a press conference. Public use of coins and bills of the single European currency will be launched that year.
Yoshio Suzuki, a Liberal Party (LP) official who also chairs the team, said the party "has called for a launch in 2001, but timing is not a priority."
New Komeito's Takayoshi Taniguchi, who is on the team, said, "We will make a decision in the near future after discussing it within the party."
Chief Cabinet Secretary Mikio Aoki said in a separate press conference, "Since it would have a wide-ranging effect on all levels of society, we will keep watch over the talks between the three ruling parties and study the proposal from a wide angle."
The idea of changing the yen's denomination came in response to fears that the international presence of the yen would decline compared with the dollar and the euro, especially after Europe successfully created the single currency.
A boost in the use of the newly denominated currency can also be expected, LDP officials said.
New Komeito remains cautious, however, because "it would put further burdens on managers of small and midsize firms in addition to the year 2000 problem which requires them to revise their computer software," a New Komeito official said.
Some LDP and government figures are also opposed, arguing a currency redenomination would make consumers refrain from buying new computers before its implementation and would dampen the economy.
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| Publication: | Japan Weekly Monitor |
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| Date: | Nov 22, 1999 |
| Words: | 380 |
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