By Tatsuo Ito
Feb. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Japan’s Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa said he wasn’t planning to resign following calls for him to step down after he denied he was drunk at a Group of Seven press conference in Rome.
Nakagawa was speaking to reporters in Tokyo today after meeting with Prime Minister Taro Aso. Aso called on Nakagawa to remain in his post, the finance chief said.
Nakagawa earlier told lawmakers he had slurred his speech because he had taken double the prescribed dose of medicine at a meeting of finance ministers and central bankers on Feb. 14. The minister appeared to have difficulty understanding questions when addressing reporters after the gathering.
“I took a little more medicine than prescribed,” Nakagawa said at parliament, adding that he had “a sip” of wine earlier at a luncheon. He told reporters outside his home earlier today he “wouldn’t drink before a G-7 meeting” in remarks broadcast by Asahi Television.
Opposition lawmakers will table a motion for Nakagawa to resign as soon as tomorrow, Kyodo News reported, without citing where it obtained the information.
“He has been doing an incredibly good job, and I am grateful for that,” Aso told reporters today. “I told him to take good care of himself.”
Blow to Aso
The incident was the latest blow to Aso, whose popularity slid to the second-lowest on record for a leader. Aso’s approval rating fell to 9.7 percent in a Nippon television news survey from 17.4 percent, the poorest showing since the Yoshiro Mori administration in 2001, the broadcaster said. His disapproval rating climbed to 76.2 percent. Aso needs to call elections by September.
Japan’s economy shrank at an annual 12.7 percent pace last quarter, the most since the 1974 oil shock, a report by the Cabinet Office today showed.
To contact the reporter on this story: Tatsuo Ito in Tokyo at tito2@bloomberg.net
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