LIBOR +49 for Japanese banks

March 5 (Bloomberg) -- Japan’s banks were charged record premiums to swap interest rates calculated in London for ones set in Tokyo as a slumping economy exacerbates concerns about the capacity of the nation’s companies to meet their obligations.

Banks were asked to pay as much as 49 basis points this week on top of the London Interbank Offered Rate, or Libor, to receive the Tokyo Interbank Offered Rate, or Tibor, for 10 years. That’s the largest gap since at least May 1999...

MM (MangaMan) Aso had no comment on the arrest of Ozawa's secretary the other evening. He said he was too busy with the economy.