-->MOF, BOJ Bicker Over Stock-Purchase Plan -- Yen Or State Coffers?

TOKYO (Nikkei)--Differences have emerged between the Finance Ministry and Bank of Japan over the details of a plan for the central bank to buy stocks held by banks.

The BOJ wants to set aside as reserves an amount of funds equivalent to 40-50% of the cost of the shares it buys to cover future falls in share prices.

The shares are expected to cost 1-3 trillion yen, so the required reserves would run in the hundreds of billions of yen. To cover the loss reserves, the BOJ wants a sharp reduction in its required payments to the state.

But the ministry fears a reduction in its own income. Setting up such reserves would wipe out more than half of the BOJ's fiscal 2002 payments to the government.

The BOJ requires government authorization to launch its scheme to buy bank stockholdings, making talks with the ministry necessary. The discussions focus on methods of selecting and buying issues, as well as the reserve fund.

The BOJ, which prints currency, maintains that"A financial downturn due to a fall in the prices of the shares we buy could hurt confidence in the yen."

But the ministry notes that few private companies set up reserve funds against stock losses. It is unlikely, however, that the ministry will completely reject the BOJ's request to set up the loss reserves.