Export Import Bank Of Japan

It really isn't necessary, but the Export-Import Bank of Japan has beefed up a seldom-used program of low-interest loans for foreign firms--targeting U.S. auto makers in another bid to ease U.S.-Japan trade tensions. The government-controlled bank's negotiations with Ford Motor Co. came to light this week as friction intensified in the bilateral U.S.-Japan trade talks.

It really isn't necessary, but the Export-Import Bank of Japan has beefed up a seldom-used program of low-interest loans for foreign firms--targeting U.S. auto makers in another bid to ease U.S.-Japan trade tensions. The government-controlled bank's negotiations with Ford Motor Co. came to light this week as friction intensified in the bilateral U.S.-Japan trade talks.

Ford Negotiating Loan With Japan: The auto maker is discussing a $300-million loan with the government-controlled Import-Export Bank of Japan to help it develop right-hand-drive vehicles for export there, according to the Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai. The action signals Japan's eagerness to narrow its U.S. trade surplus and earn good will after resisting Clinton Administration calls to guarantee more imports of U.S. cars.

Ford Negotiating Loan With Japan: The auto maker is discussing a $300-million loan with the government-controlled Import-Export Bank of Japan to help it develop right-hand-drive vehicles for export there, according to the Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai. The action signals Japan's eagerness to narrow its U.S. trade surplus and earn good will after resisting Clinton Administration calls to guarantee more imports of U.S. cars.

Financing Completed for Indonesia Plant: A group that includes SCEcorp's Mission Energy Co. unit closed $2.5 billion in financing to build the coal-fired power plant in East Java. The bulk of the funding, $1.82 billion, comes from the Export-Import Bank of Japan, with support from Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry, the Export-Import Bank of the United States and the Overseas Private Investment Corp. of the United States. A group of eight commercial banks is also contributing.

Daihatsu Motor Co. Ltd. has come up with a new plan to produce compact cars in Poland, company President Tomonaru Eguchi told reporters in Osaka today. The plan was presented today to Polish public vehicle production company Fabryka Samochodow Osobowych. The Daihatsu plan calls for FSO to assemble 6,000 Daihatsu-designed Charade cars annually, with components supplied by Daihatsu in Japan. The phased-in investment will represent no financial difficulties for the Polish firm, said Daihatsu.

A group including SCEcorp's Mission Energy Co. unit in Irvine picked up $2.5 billion in financing, mostly from Japanese banks, to build a coal-fired power plant in East Java, Indonesia. The 1,230-megawatt Paiton Power Project, expected to be operating by late 1998, would be the first large-scale, privately owned power plant in Indonesia.

Japan added its support Tuesday to the worldwide effort to help the Soviet Union cope with widespread food shortages, saying it will extend $100 million in loans. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said the loans will be made through the Export-Import Bank of Japan. Japan will also offer $3.75 million in food aid and additional medical aid for Moscow through international organizations including the Red Cross, the Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

The government-owned Export-Import Bank of Japan is studying a request from three Southern U.S. states for subsidized loans, but a decision on the matter is still a way off, bank officials said today. The governors of Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi first raised the idea of the low-cost loans in September, 1988. The bank has been informally studying the possibility since then. "It is very premature," said Tadahiko Nakagawa, manager of the bank's international relations division.