Dal Wallstreet Journal Europe online di ieri:
Japan on Tuesday threw its support behind Europe's bailout efforts, saying it will take a major stake in a bond offering for Ireland later this month by one of the special funds set up in the wake of the euro-zone sovereign debt crisis.
The government plans to buy more than 20% of a bond offering by the European Financial Stability Facility, expected some time this month, Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said at a press conference. The €440 billion ($569 billion) fund was set up in June to help finance bailout efforts.
"The euro zone is planning to issue a large amount of bonds in a cooperative manner late this month to raise funds to assist Ireland, and it is appropriate for Japan, as a major economy, to buy some of the EFSF bonds to bolster confidence" in Europe's efforts, Mr. Noda said.
"We're thinking about buying more than 20% of the amount" of the securities to be issued in the initial round, he said. Government officials didn't release specifics.
The offer represents a welcome although cautious approach to assisting the European nations. Backed through a set of guarantees by European Union member nations, the bonds are considered triple-A rated.
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China said last week that it is interested in buying debt directly from Spain, although no figures were made public, and has already purchased debt issued by Greece, the first nation hit by the crisis.
The group has said it plans to raise up to €16.5 billion in 2011 in tranches tentatively set at €3 billion to €5 billion. The plan is subject to revision, and Japanese government officials noted that the January issuance has also been estimated at around €8 billion.
But the move should not directly affect foreign exchange rates, as Mr. Noda said that Japan will use current euro reserves for the purchases. The euro was at $1.2942 in early European trading, up from around $1.2915 before Noda's announcement.
"We'd like to do this within the realm of euro liquidity in the foreign currency reserves," he said. Analysts said that the support won't remove the basic issues around euro-zone debt.
"At this point it's hard to expect that the Japanese and Chinese support would be able to stop the trend of growing market concern over the fiscal problems in Europe," said Satoshi Tate, a senior foreign exchange dealer at Mizuho Corporate Bank.
Finance ministry bureaucrats told Dow Jones Newswires that Japan sees no need to buy euros in the currency market for that purpose because it already has enough euros in its reserves to fund the intended move.
"We will not shift our dollar funds into euros because of this, and there's just no way we will sell U.S. Treasurys" held in the reserves, one of the officials said.
Japan has previously offered assistance to European nations through the International Monetary Fund. Tuesday's foreign reserve data showed that the Japanese government's outstanding loans to the IMF made out of reserves rose to 8.5 billion yen ($102.3 million) from 7.53 billion yen in December. The increase reflected the new Japanese lending for the IMF to support Greece, as well as Ukraine, finance ministry officials said.
Japan's foreign-currency stockpile stood at $1.096 trillion last month—the world's second largest reserve after China's. While most of the reserves are believed to be held in U.S. Treasurys, Japan, like many other nations, has kept under wraps the currency composition of the reserves.
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