--Soros says Japan's financial system is "sick"
By Liz Alderman and Regina Schleiger, BridgeNews
Davos--Jan. 29--Japan's economy does not seem to be progressing and may even be backsliding, despite the efforts authorities have made to reverse its troubles, billionaire financier George Soros said Monday.
* * * "With all the efforts it hasn't worked its way out of the troubles it has.
It seems to be now regressing again," he said of the economy during a press briefing at the World Economic Forum here. Said Japan's financial system "is sick."
But he declined to give advice on what policies Japan should use to get out of its economic woes.
"Frankly, I don't know what I would do if I was in their place," he said. "I don't have any prescription, and they'll probably appreciate that because they've received too many prescriptions from Washington."
Over the weekend, outgoing U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers said he was "profoundly troubled by the situation of the Japanese economy,". It was his first public indication that his Japanese counterparts had continued to resist repeated efforts by the U.S. Treasury to draw attention to the seriousness of Japan's economic malaise before its most recent slump.
"It is fair to say there has been a certain amount of reluctance in Japan to recognize that," Summers said of depth of Japan's monetary problems. End