Japan's financial sector key G7 issue - Miyazawa

Japanese Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa said on Feb. 19, 2001 that he thought improving Japan's financial sector was at the core of discussions at the weekend meeting of the Group of Seven (G7) leading nations. "Japan's bad loan issue was seen as the largest problem," Miyazawa told a parliamentary committee.

After G7 finance ministers and central bank governors met in Palermo on Feb 17, the G7 said in a statement on Japan that "efforts to strengthen the financial sector should be enhanced."