The Transition and Its Evaluation on Agricultural Policy Loans in Japan after 1990s ─Focusing on the Super-L Loan by Japan Finance Corporation─

Abstract

The agricultural policy loan programs had been drastically changed in Japan after 1990s under the financial policy reform. The objective of this study is to grasp those changes in both cost and effectiveness sides, mainly focusing on the loan programs by Japan Finance Corporation (JFC) and its Super-L loan. It is analyzed depending on the public statistics between 1990 and 2018. The main results are the followings. First, the cost side of the program has been considerably improved, because the negative interest rate margins between the financing and loans were solved under the reform of national investment and loan program. Second, the effectiveness side is admitted mainly by the increasing number and farm size of borrowers, especially in the farm category of livestock. And it is presumed that the Super-L loan and JFC have supported local private banks in their business of agricultural loans. Finary, this study concludes that the agricultural policy loan by JFC can be evaluated by a certain achievement through its policy reform.