1.   The ministry also will relax rules requiring banks to step up disposal of bad loans next year.

2.   The ministry will relax some of the restrictions as part of its financial deregulation plans.

3.   The ministry will also relax restrictions on the size of retail outlets.

4.   The ministry relaxed the rules because cuts that banks made in their lending to meet the rules have contributed to push companies into bankruptcy.

5.   The ministry relaxed the rules for Japanese banks because the banks cut lending to reduce their assets to meet the rules.

6.   To that end, the ministry relaxed several rules on overseas investment Wednesday and told institutions to ship their money abroad.

7.   He said the ministry had relaxed this condition following appeals from the people.