10 December 2002, 11:21  Shiokawa Says Snow Will Maintain U.S. Dollar Policy

Tokyo, Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Japanese Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said he doesn't expect John W. Snow, picked to be the next U.S. treasury secretary, to change the policy on the dollar. He added that the yen is soon likely to weaken to the level before Paul O'Neill's dismissal as treasury secretary on Friday, which triggered a rally in the Japanese currency. ``I don't think the basic U.S. policies on foreign exchange rates and international economies will be changed,'' Shiokawa said at a press conference. ``I expect the currency to return to former levels soon.''
The yen was at 123.38 to the dollar at 10:27 a.m. in Tokyo, little changed from 123.37 in late New York trade yesterday. The yen jumped 1.2 percent against the dollar on Friday on news of O'Neill's dismissal. The dollar may rise after the appointment of a new treasury secretary and economic adviser spurred expectations the U.S. will cut taxes and increase spending to stimulate economic growth, currency traders said. President George W. Bush yesterday named Snow, chairman of the U.S.'s third-biggest rail system, CSX Corp., to succeed O'Neill. Bush will select former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Co- Chairman Stephen Friedman to replace Lawrence Lindsey as White House economic adviser, an administration official said. Shiokawa also said the Japanese government plans to sell less than 5 trillion yen ($40.5 billion) of new bonds in the fiscal year ending March 31 to pay for measures to create new jobs, subsidize small companies and boost the economy. ``The amount will probably be a little lower'' than 5 the trillion yen announced earlier, he said. //www.quote.bloomberg.com

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