OTARU, Japan, March 25 (AP) - (Kyodo)—(EDS: TO BE LED WITH YAMAGUCHI'S PRESS CONFERENCE)
Japanese banks have increasingly felt a pinch on their capital bases and could further cut their lending to businesses and cause downside risks to the country's economic growth, Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Hirohide Yamaguchi warned Wednesday.
Banks and other financial institutions, facing growing credit risks and losses on their stock investments amid the global financial turmoil, "have become aware of limits to their capital when they consider lending," Yamaguchi said at a meeting with local business leaders in Otaru, Hokkaido.
