Asia Times: Japan's cabinet decides on 17 admin. reform bills



	April 29, 1999	atimes.com

Japan Economy

Japan's cabinet decides on 17 admin. reform bills

TOKYO - The cabinet decided on Tuesday on 17 administrative reform bills aimed at downsizing the government and enhancing the cabinet's function. The legislation will be submitted Wednesday to the parliament for its approval of them within the current regular session.

The bills call for allowing the prime minister to propose key government policies at cabinet meetings. The establishment of an economic and fiscal council in the cabinet office was also proposed.

Such legislation would enable the cabinet, rather than the Finance Ministry, to manage the economy and compile the budget under its initiative.

The bills ask for a financial emergency committee to be set up in the cabinet office to assess basic policies on controlling financial risk and handling financial institution failures.

The bills also propose a consolidation of the current 22 ministries and agencies into 13 by January 2001, including integrating construction, transport and two other government agencies.

The legislation would require the maximum number of cabinet ministers to be reduced from 20 to 17, the number of central government employees to be cut 25 percent over 10 years and the number of central government sections and offices to be pared to 1,000 from 1,200.

Complete separation between fiscal and monetary functions at the Finance Ministry, the central issue of the administrative reform, was not included in the proposals, however.

The bills outlined the formation in July 2000 of a finance agency that would play a core role in financial policy making. But the plan leaves ample leeway for the Finance Ministry, to be renamed the Treasury Ministry, to interfere in monetary matters, analysts said.

(Asia Pulse/Nikkei)

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©1999 Asia Times Online Co., Ltd.