Thursday, March 17, 2011

Point Counterpoint: Funding NPR

(Reuters) - Japanese markets have not become destabilized enough to warrant joint G7 currency intervention or government purchases of shares, Economics Minister Kaoru Yosano said on Thursday, stressing that the damage from last week's devastating quake to the country's economy would be limited.

Yosano also told Reuters in an interview an extra budget to fund disaster relief and reconstruction was set to exceed what Japan had spent after the 1995 earthquake in Kobe, but said Tokyo should have no trouble financing additional spending.

The yen spiked to a record high against the dollar, while shares in Japan and elsewhere in Asia fell on Thursday after U.S. officials said the risk of a catastrophic radiation leak from an earthquake-crippled Japanese nuclear plant was rising.

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